The Battle for Earth
by Adena McGee
Summary: Chapter 7 is up. An AU Rick & Lisa love story. Look on my profile for a summary of this story.
1. The Mission

A/N: _This is an alternative universe story so some of the things didn't happen as in the Macross timeline. Also since it is a crossover story, I have to tie some of the things that happened in Macross with the other stories so it actually makes sense. So basically this is my disclaimer DON'T EXPECT THINGS TO HAPPEN IN THE SAME WAY AS THE ORIGINAL MACROSS! Hopefully you will enjoy the story enough that you will forgive the few things that are out of wack in it. Basically this means that I fudged with the timeline a WEE bit. (understatement of the year)_

_First, the Earth will not be completely destroyed by Dolza. Some of the bigger cities will be mostly or completely destroyed but I can't have only the people aboard the SDF-1 as the only survivors._

_Second, Dolza escaped from the battle. The story will take time after the Reconstruction but before the failed date. The factory satellite attack will have happened already (actually very recently) but not the rescue mission for Minmay. _

_Another change I did was with Rick's physical appearance. I am making him be 6'0, so he is still shorter than Roy who is 6'4._

_I most point out (and a deep thanks to my beta DWParsons for making me realize this) I will be using the Meltrandi/Zentraedi denominations but I am following the American Robotech series and not the Japanese movie/series. _

_I am basically will be tying in the Macross saga (Robotech series) with some of the robot cartoons that were popular in the 80's. Now I know that in the US some of these stories were not as popular or basically were not aired. Don't despair, I will explain enough about them as I go along that you won't be lost. For those of you guys in Latin America, especially Puerto Rico, that are familiar with them, I hope you enjoy!_

_The stories will be:_

_**Robotech (Macross Series)**_

_**El Galactico (Spacekeeters/Starzinger**) "Aurora, the princess of the moon, is given a mission by the great scientist Dr. Kitty. Aurora must go to the planet Great King and restore the galaxy energy that has somehow decreased in the universe. The source of all the trouble is suposed to have its origin there. On her way there she will face numerous monsters and mutated creatures so she will have three cyborg heroes to aid her in her mission." Quote taken from Z (couln't miss on this one! It's a classic!)_

_**SuperMagnetron/Magne Robo Gakeen **(original Japanese name) this story is about a guy and a girl that can sustain electric charges and they control 2 robots but they can also meld together to form a bigger robot._

_**Toshi Gordian** – Again, don't think this one was aired in the US. This is another robot story about a guy that controls 3 robots. The robots go into themselves like those Russian dolls… you know the one that is a really small wooden doll that goes into a slightly bigger one so and so forth until you have at least 5 dolls inside of a slightly bigger doll._

_I put all the names they are known by here just in case you want to do a little bit of research on the characters and the story. I'll try my best to make it as similar to their own plots and characters as I can and I will be doing for the Robotech ones._

_Again, Lots and LOTS of thanks to Dwparsons for making sure that everything is correct and to keep me in line. You really help out a lot._

_For those of you guys that were following my other story A Spacefold Away… Sorry about that. I will EVENTUALLY pick that one up but it will be on hold for a while. I am also thinking of reposting it eventually. For now, I will (try my very best) to update this one with more frequency. Enjoy!_

* * *

Beady black eyes shifted across the room taking in the comings and goings of the people that had been called to the meeting. He watched their interactions with fascination as they readied the room for the meeting. His dwarfish face under a mop of unruly and quite frankly, garish red hair, lit up as he studied the micronians. His culture after all was so different. He watched as a female directed two young males and even though she appeared to have a higher rank, she still blushed when one of the men directed a comment to her. The Zentraedi ambassador looked on unabashedly. Even after the two years since the final battle against their Emperor Dolza when he had joined the micronians, he still did not understand the interactions between the complex creatures.

For example, take the Admiral. Exedore shifted a bit on his seat so he could have a better look at the leader of these micronians. He was the leader of the very people that had defeated the Zentraedi, the fiercest of warriors and yet he was constantly berated by a tiny slip of a girl every time he tried to engage in that micronian custom of lighting his pipe. The Admiral was a single, mostly solitary man but when asked about his family he claimed that he loved the crew like his very own. Love, Exedore had come to find, was a complicated feeling in the micronian culture.

Exedore saw the Admiral straighten into the attention pose as he saluted one of the new comers. Turning his head a bit, the Zentraedi ambassador nodded respectfully at the former commander of Skull 1. Roy Fokker returned the salute with a reserved air as he folded his tall frame in one of the chairs. A slight wince gave away the pain that would forever plague the newly appointed Captain. Exedore knew that the cause of this pain was an old battle wound. Even though it had happened before his time here, a bit over two years ago, he had learned what happened. From listening to the female micronians, and a few of the males, engage in a pastime they called gossip, he knew the Captain had been seriously injured in an accident. After this near death experience his views in life had been seriously affected.

Exedore remembered the day when he had heard the man ask the Admiral to be relocated to a non-combatant post. Extremely puzzled at this request, Exedore had waited until the commander had left to ask the Admiral why the man was willing to be relocated. The answer had not clarified anything. Admiral Gloval had simply answered that even if Roy Fokker loved flying, he loved his girlfriend Claudia Grant even more. Therefore he was willing to sacrifice his first love in order to live and be able to love Commander Grant for all of his life. To a Zentraedi, this was baffling. There was after all, no choice in the matter. Either you were a soldier or you died in the field. There was no life outside the battles and there was no way that a soldier would willingly choose to be taken out of the battles.

So far he had learned that people can love others as a family even if they are not really from the same flesh. He had also learned that love can make you change your whole life based on the fear of losing that which you hold dear.

Laughing voices pulled him from his thoughts and he looked towards the entrance to see Captain Hunter come in with Captain Sterling and Miriya Parino. All three saluted the Admiral with respect and turned to smile at Captain Fokker. He was surprised to see that the last person to come in was Captain Hayes but seeing the reports she was carrying he understood why she had been late. After all he knew the First Officer had been given many tasks by the Admiral in order to prepare her for what was about to come.

Exedore had long ago noticed how professional Captain Hayes behaved. That was one of the reasons that had made him admire the micronian female he had come to know in his time here. He knew even Breetai was impressed with her. This micronian would have made the Meltrandi proud. With her natural reserve, she saluted the Admiral and those in the room. Even knowing how close she was to all who were present, her demeanor had not changed even though the others were not as reserved when she came in. Roy turned to her and winked as he saluted her (something the Captain ignored with a sniff and made the Captain smile even more) and the Sterlings smiled unabashedly at her. The only one who returned the salute with a restraint similar to her own was Captain Hunter. His face was as stony as hers as he returned her salute and his eyes remained frosty instead of warming up as they usually did when he saw her.

Of course he knew that the restraint the man was showing was not his usual greeting. Normally the Captain would smile at the First Officer and maybe joke with her making the normally reserved woman blush. With a knowing smile he realized that the Captains must have had a fight recently. Oh yeah, he knew all about those fights of theirs, after all he was not deaf! In keeping with his research of the strange culture the micronians had, he had discovered an important part of their culture, something called gossip. Truth be told the gossip about Captains Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes was the most widespread and the… how did the female micronians put it, ah yes! The juiciest. Their battles were legendary, almost as much as the battle between the micronians and the Zentraedi and he had to admit, having observed a few of them, almost as fierce.

In attempting to learn about the interactions between females and males of their species, purely for scientific purposes of course, he had learned of various terms by listening in on the conversations of the people in the base. For example, he had overhead that the reason the Captains fought so much was because of "Unresolved Sexual Tension". This had puzzled the Zentraedi for a while as he didn't understand why they wouldn't just resolve it and be done with it. He did not understand how it was resolved either. When he had tried to ask the Admiral what rituals where involved to resolve this impasse, the Admiral had coughed the brandy he had been drinking and he had reluctantly stopped asking questions lest Admiral Gloval would choke again on something.

He had also learned that the reason why Captain Hayes sometimes wore a haunted look in her eyes, especially around the holidays, was because she had lost her fiancée to the war. Exedore wondered why something that happened such a long time ago (after all the Captain had been very young then) would still affect the fierce female warrior that had not batted an eyelash when she confronted their leader Dolza, a veritable giant to the tiny micronian. But alas he had learned that such was the pain of when one looses a loved one.

Exedore was glad he was not programmed to feel those troublesome feelings. Zentraedis and Meltrandis were warriors created by the Robotech Masters and programmed to fight. Feelings had no bearings in their programming. And still there was the matter of Miriya Sterling, formerly known as Miriya Parino, one of the greatest female warriors the Meltrandi had produced. For all of her fierceness, the Meltrandi had given up her glory as a warrior and had decided to tie herself to a micronian because she claimed she loved the male. Even more bizarre is that she had been able to create a micronian on her body just like the females of the micronian species. At his puzzlement, many of his micronian comrades had smiled knowingly and claimed such was the power of love.

Therefore, Exedore had studied and observed the different terminologies of the mysterious puzzle that is love. Aside from the "Power of Love" and the "Loss of a Loved One", Exedore had also learned of another term, "Unrequited Love". Apparently this variety of love was what Captain Hunter suffered from. He had learned, again from overhearing the females that had so much information on his test subjects, that Captain Hunter was in love with the pretty little singer Minmay Lynn. Unfortunately the singer did not love him in return (or so the females claimed in horrified whispers) making him quite miserable. In fact, in comparing the attitudes of both Captains, he had come to the conclusion that "Unrequited Love" and "Loss of a Loved One" caused the same symptoms, extreme sadness, a distracted air, sighing in dejection and the occasional teary eyes in the female of the species. Why anybody would subject themselves willingly to that he did not know. If he took into consideration the giggled comments among his female informants, he had determined that the Captains could cure themselves of their problems if they would only resolve their "Unresolved Sexual Tensions" and just admit that they were actually victims of the "Power of Love" that affected the Sterlings and Captain Fokker and Captain Grant.

Exedore sighed as his head started to pound. He always started getting a headache whenever he tried to understand these issues. He, Exedore the key strategist to Lord Breetai, the fiercest of warriors who held the most victories, could not understand this simple puzzle the micronians presented. He was not disheartened however since it seemed that the keepers of knowledge of the micronians, the female gossipers in the SDF-1, were stumped by this puzzle as well. With a final glance around the table, Exedore concluded that he would have to wait to hear more from the females in order to draw up more conclusions.

* * *

Admiral Henry Gloval waited until all of the people present were seated. He knew that the news he had to impart were not happy ones as it meant that the tenuous peace they had achieved with the aliens was about to be broken again. He knew that his visage was grim and judging by the countenances around the tables, he knew that all of them were bracing themselves for the news. Henry's deep brown eyes settled on the unlikely ally they had made in the battle against his very own people. Exedore looked slightly green around the gills as his beady eyes shifted around the room full of micronians. Henry was slightly worried about his reaction. If the Ambassador from the Zentraedi was that worried, he wondered what kind of chance they stood in this new battle. Shaking his head at the grim thoughts, he stood straighter, trying to impart a feeling of security that he himself did not posses. If there was something he had learned in the many years as an Admiral it was that those who depended on his leadership needed some kind of reassurance from him as well. If they felt that he was not completely sure of the positive outcome of their mission they would fail without even trying. That was the reason why he prayed to the gods above that he was not projecting his insecurity to his pseudo-family.

"I have called you all here today to brief you on an important mission." Admiral Gloval announced as he looked around the table. "As you all know Dolza was able to escape in the midst of the battle almost two years ago." All around the table there were nods and worried faces. "We have found evidence that he went back to his home planet in order to regroup and rebuild his forces."

"What evidence do we have of this?" Captain Lisa Hayes asked her intelligent green eyes clouded with worry.

"We have been monitoring the area around the home planet and we have seen recent mobilization." Exedore explained. "But still we wanted to be sure that this was the case and not a false alarm. A week ago the Admiral sent an unmanned cat's eye to report. It was detected a couple hours after it defolded but we still had enough information to support what the Admiral has just mentioned."

"But Exedore, I thought that the Grand Fleet was mostly defeated. Just a few were left after the battle. How many are we talking about now?"

"They only had two years to reconstruct so we are talking less than a fourth of what they originally had."

All the members in the table looked at each other in worry. None of them were fooled at the extent of vessels this would entail. In particular Lisa, Rick, Max and Miriya knew the extent of what they would be facing. The first three had witnessed beforehand the vast quantity of vessels the Zentraedi possessed and Miriya, being a former high officer in the Meltrandi army, knew of the awesome power her former army possessed.

Lisa turned to the Admiral, her face mirroring her puzzlement. "I don't understand sir, how could the Zentraedi _rebuild_ their forces? If I am not mistaken we took possession of the last working factory satellite the Zentraedi had access to. Was that information incorrect?"

Henry looked towards his Commander in Chief, momentarily feeling a fluttering of pride at her intelligence. "That is a very good question Captain Hayes." He praised her. "The information was not incorrect. That was in fact the last satellite. We have come across another piece of disturbing news." He paused for a second and he could have sworn he heard a very faint groan coming from the direction of Captain Hunter. Understanding brown eyes faced troubled blue ones as he directed his next comment to the young Captain. "It seems the Zentraedi have either taken some allies or have conquered another race that have vast technological knowledge." He nodded towards the technician who stood next to the wall and the lights dimmed as the projector hummed to life. Admiral Gloval stepped aside as an image filled the screen. "These are some images we recovered from the Cat's Eye before it was destroyed. As you can see some of the vessels still retain the Zentraedi components but are now mixed with newer and more advanced parts." He remained silent as the images scrolled thru. When they were done, the lights slowly came back to reveal the horrified gazes of those inside the room. He could completely understand how they felt.

"It took some time to correctly identify the parts as the RDF had not encountered this kind of alien technology but others have. Dr. Lang?" He nodded to the man to his right.

Dr. Lang rose after thanking Admiral Gloval. His eerie pupiless eyes swept the room. "After making sure these pieces were not Zentraedi, Meltrandi or from the Robotech Masters, we decided to contact other scientists that have made it their priority to study phenomena such as these. I was in contact with some of the same scientists who first studied the SDF-1 when it made its landing on Earth. The conversations were… disturbing to say the least." He turned to the Admiral asking permission to speak, at his nod, he continued. "Apparently we were not the only ones that had been fighting alien forces. In fact some of the attacks that had been attributed to rogue Zentraedi were in fact other groups of alien invaders."

Gasps and murmurs could be heard around the table and Admiral Gloval rapidly raised his hand forestalling the questions. "I soon spoke with the different factions and I found out something of a conspiracy that was created to keep not only the civilians ignorant of these attacks but us as well."

"But who could have done that?" Rick Hunter asked.

The Admiral's eyes slipped towards haunted green eyes and he knew she had a good idea of who it had been. "It was apparently a practice that started with the old United Earth Government and is still being kept up by the current one."

Lisa looked down to her notes to escape the sorrow in her commander's eyes. A feeling of rage and impotence suffused her. Detachedly, she watched as her hand crumpled the piece of paper it had been holding. How dare they! How dare they keep that information from all of them? Had they learned nothing from the mistakes of their predecessors? It had been her father and the rest of the United Earth Government who started keeping secrets from the crew of the SDF-1 and the civilians inside of it and on Earth. And look at what it had accomplished, a barren land that they had had to rebuild almost from scratch.

She pulled herself out of her bleak thoughts to hear the account of how many of those factions had survived in spite of Dolza's attack to Earth. It had been in fact some of those factions who had saved some of the Earth's population from complete extinction.

"We have narrowed the list of alien supporters the Zentraedi could have. Based on their mecha we are pretty sure we are on the right track. We will now have to face not only the Zentraedi but these new threats as well."

"Do not despair as we have in fact come up with a solution to our dilemma. Seeing that the Zentraedi have seen fit to ally themselves and in the light that there are others who fight the same fight we do, we have decided to also take some allies in this new battle." Admiral Gloval announced breaking thru the gloomy atmosphere with a ray of hope. All of those around the table looked at him with so much trust that he was humbled by the sentiment. He swore to himself he would do anything in his power to make this be a fight that they could win. "The Admirals and I have decided to form an elite group which will fight alongside these other groups in order to defeat Dolza and this new threat. I must admit, we will have a long road of discovery ahead of us because as we uncover things, we are left with many more questions with no answers. It will be up to this group to uncover them with the aid of our new allies. In order to make our efforts more effective, we have decided to let this group operate on its own and lend support as it is needed. As it is, I have requested all of you to be part of this elite force. I have the outmost confidence in all of you."

The Admiral paused as he let this piece of news sink in. He had not been merely flattering them as he truly believed they were more than capable of handling the job. After all, they were the best he had.

"I have recommended Captain Lisa Hayes to be the leader of the group." He said nodding at Lisa who acknowledged the news with a widening of her eyes and a slight flaring of her nostrils as she sucked in a surprised breath. "You will coordinate all the attacks with the help of the leaders of the other divisions." Turning to the pilots, he said, "All squadron leaders will have command over their squadron and any air support the other divisions posses." Rick, Max, Miriya and Roy nodded. "Seniority dictates that Captain Fokker will lead all air divisions. I will travel with you to the initial debriefing but then I will return here to coordinate supporting attacks. You might wonder why we are not providing ground support," he paused as the others nodded. "One of the groups you will be joining has a strong ground force but we have found that they are all lacking an organized air force. Therefore we shall be providing it."

"How about the rest of the staff? We will need a Communications Officer." Lisa asked since the Admiral had not mentioned anything about Claudia.

"I was told you would be provided with a person who will work both as Communications Officer and as Radar technician."

"Begging your pardon sir, I do believe that I will need more assistance than that."

Gloval mulled it carefully. He had no idea how long this fight would take them. He hoped it would not be as long as the original battle had been but he had to be realistic. He hated to part with both of his best officers but as he looked at Lisa's stony face and Roy's almost pleading grey eyes, he made a final decision. "Very well I can provide Captain Grant." He said, containing a smile at the visible relief in both Lisa and Roy's faces. "You shall not be getting anybody else from my staff Captain Hayes so do not push for any more." He said with mock sternness and was rewarded with a small smile from his First Officer.

"Thank you sir, I will not ask for more."

"We will be meeting again tomorrow at 0800 hours in order to discuss the needed mecha we will provide. I want you all to be ready in two days for your departure. Pack whatever you need as if you were moving at least for a year. Your homes will be secured and everything you need will be provided. We will be heading to a training ground facility in order to develop new strategies and so that of the different groups can train together and join forces. Any questions?" They all shook their heads, their minds overwhelmed with the information given. "Well, you are all dismissed."

* * *

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!"

"Uh, get off me!" Captain Lisa Hayes exclaimed in exasperated disgust as Captain Roy Fokker held her in a bear hug. Lisa was turning quite red in the face as people passed by them in the hallway and snickered at the Captain's antics. Max and Miriya couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the Lisa's peeved expression in contrast to Roy's comical blissful face as he rested his cheek on the crown of her head. They almost broke into gales of laughter as she tried to claw her way out of his embrace but he wouldn't budge. They knew that not only was the Captain grateful that her intervention had caused his girlfriend to be relocated with them but he was doing it knowing he was driving the normally unflappable woman up the wall.

"Is there a reason why you are draped all over my best friend?" Came a drawled voice from behind them. All of them turned, Roy dragging Lisa along as he still had not released her, to see Captain Grant tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for an answer. Her eyes betrayed the seriousness of her face as they twinkled with barely suppressed laughter. To her credit, her expression never wavered, even when they all could hear Captain Hayes' teeth gnashing in annoyance.

"I am hugging your friend here because she has saved me, er… us, from absolute loneliness while we are away on a mission." Claudia looked at him in bafflement. "Let me take you to lunch and I will explain everything to you. What do you say?" He said with a charming smile and a roughish wiggle of his eyebrows.

Claudia couldn't help but smile at that and said. "Well, since you plead your case so nicely, I think I will but don't you think you should let go of Lisa dear? Or are you thinking of becoming permanently attached to her?" She asked drolly as her best friend sputtered in exasperation.

Roy let go of Lisa as if she was a hot potato and moved towards his girlfriend in a flash putting the dark skinned beauty between them. The 6'4" blond smiled a beatific smile at green eyed woman as his eyes opened in a perfect imitation of an innocent puppy. Even if Lisa was well cured of the patented Roy Fokker charm, she couldn't help but snort in amusement at his expression. With a mock glare in his direction, she said:

"Captain Fokker, you try that again and you will find yourself transferred to trash collection duty."

"Yes, sir, madam, sir!" The commander said in mock reverence as he saluted her.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Lisa left, heading towards the Admiral's office.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually got away to tell the tale." Rick told his big brother who was busily making besotted eyes to his long-time girlfriend now turned fiancée.

Roy snorted at his little brother in all but blood. "Come on Rick! You especially should know that Lisa is much more bark than bite. If that were not the case, you would probably have not survived till now."

"You got a point there." Rick said with a grimace as he remembered their last row. "I hope she would have a much better sense of humor when it comes to dealing with me though."

The rest of them knew he was referring to the last row the two had recently. Word had it Rick had not handled well the fact that he had been used as a diversion for the attack on the factory satellite and had taken it out on the poor woman. It wasn't as if she had not been forced into it herself, although all that knew her also knew she had given in to the plan of broadcasting their kiss for less altruistic reasons than just furthering their mission. They all had to suppress a sigh at the completely clueless man. To think that at this point, almost three years later, the man had yet to realize that Captain Lisa Hayes was head over heels in love with him was baffling.

Truth be told, all of them were starting to get tired of the whole Rick and Lisa saga, not that it wasn't entertaining and all and the cause of great gossip. All kidding aside, they all loved the two knuckleheads to death and were distressed at the thought that this could drag longer if some action was not taken.

While Rick was completely oblivious to what was happening around him, seriously when wasn't he, the Sterlings, Claudia and Roy gave each other knowing looks. A long stint outside of their everyday setting with only themselves as company and most of them being couples… this mission could very well be auspicious for the outcome of their plan of finally getting the two together. Then maybe that way they could get to cash in on their wagers. After all, it was a well known fact to everybody, except the two of them of course, that there was a giant pool on the outcome of their little feud. Being their very best friends, and having to suffer thru all of their bad moods whenever they had a row, they felt entitled to all proceedings that could be made from them.

"Well, maybe now that we are all going to spend some time together you might find that she does have a sense of humor… deep down… somewhere." Roy said, mumbling the last part. He then laughed as he tried to escape Claudia's elbow as she tried to poke him on the ribs. "Come on Clau! It was only a joke!"

Rick looked at them unconvinced. "I don't know about that you guys but just in case I think I am going home to start packing the Tequila. Have a feeling I will need it to survive this." He said drolly and with a wave, he was gone.

As soon as they saw the shaggy black head disappear down the corner, the four scheming friends looked at each other again, their eyes glinting with determination. If either Rick or Lisa would have seen the expression on Claudia's face, they would have started running the opposite way. As it was, the dark skinned beauty had a smile of pure evil on her face. "Ok, tonight, my place. We are meeting to put our plan in action." At those words, the same evil smile was echoed on all the other faces.

* * *

**Next chapter:**

More on Rick and Lisa's snippingat each other. We get to see what they are actually thinking about. I'll include more on the nature of the mission and of the 2nd mission the gang has taken upon themselves.

Hope you like!


	2. An Eye Opener

A/N: Um… guess I should have said this in the first chapter but OBVIOUSLY I do not own anything of the Robotech/Macross universe. Otherwise Minmay would have met a much different fate, from the beginning (evil laughter) Nor do I own anything of the other series.

Lots of thanks for those that reviewed. Sphersian I am taking a little break from my other story, although I'll try to get back at it as soon as the muse decides to come back for that one. Azure Ocelot I'm glad you liked my Exedore, I gave you a little bit more of him in this chapter (just a bit). gppr thanks as always for your reviews.

And dwparsons, THANK YOU very much for being my beta. You definitely had your hands full with this one.

* * *

To say that Rick Hunter was not a morning personwas the understatement of the year. 

Somehow the 23 year old Captain made it to the table where his friends were waiting for him. He either ignored the snickers as he plopped down in his seat or he was too sleepy to even register them. Still smiling, Roy handed his best friend a full cup of coffee, extra strong, as he knew his little brother needed it. Rick didn't even say a word. He just took the cup reverently and took a long sip closing his eyes to savor the strong brew.

"Is he alright?" He heard a voice saying. It was feminine and it sounded concerned. Eventually his muddled brain identified it as belonging to Claudia.

A laugh and then, "Ricky boy here is NOT a morning person." Rick opened one of his bleary eyes to direct a frown towards his immensely amused friend. "Have you noticed he doesn't do mornings at all?"

"But that's impossible, nobody can get away from morning duty." A smirk from Roy stopped her and then she added, "Or can they?"

"You have no idea the things that our Skipper has done in the past to get away from morning duty." His other friend Max, the traitor, said. Even half asleep Rick could tell he was trying hard not to laugh.

"Odd though, he has not been assigned to morning duty for a while." His wife Miriya mused.

"Maybe somebody realized that Rick in a plane in the mornings would mean more damage to us than anything the Zentraedi could possible inflict." Roy spoke again and more laughs followed. Rick thought about sending them a glare but he didn't really care about the comments, it's not like they were not absolutely true. In fact he often wondered what kind of miracle had kept him off the morning shifts. Taking another sip of his coffee he shrugged it off, attributing it to seniority or something.

"Really?" Came the highly suspicious reply from Claudia. "Maybe somebody does know." Rick was lost in his coffee induced coma but the others picked up the tone right away.

"Who does the rosters by the way?" Roy asked her slyly already knowing what the answer would be. As if to reiterate the answer a stern voice was heard.

"It's 0750 hours. What are you all doing here? Don't you remember the meeting?" The voice of Lisa Hayes reached them as she weaved her way across the Mess Hall's tables.

"Aren't you full of energy this morning, unlike some other people!" Roy couldn't help but tease. At his comment, Rick just gave him a weak glare, dimmed down by the fact that the caffeine had yet to run its course through his system.

Turning towards the rumpled looking man, Lisa had to suppress a wide grin. Everybody who had to work with Rick knew his functioning was close to zero in the mornings. In fact, there were mornings when she swore she couldn't understand what the poor man was saying. "Come on Hunter! Up and at 'em. Can't function without your caffeine fix huh?" She told him with a little smirk.

Rick managed enough irritation to scowl at her. No matter how much they got along on normal days, it still aggravated him when she made those kinds of remarks. He idly wondered why Lisa of all people could rattle his cage as she did. Hadn't he been teased by all of his other friends before that?

He was saved from further speculation as she impatiently reminded them of their meeting. Cries of "Yes mom" rang out as the others took their cups and any left over pastry to munch on during the meeting.

Staying a little bit behind, Roy asked Claudia. "I thought you said Lisa was horrible in the mornings." He said casting a puzzled glance towards the energetic woman leading them on towards the conference room.

At this comment Claudia laughed good-naturedly. "She's just as bad as your little brother. She's running on her third cup of coffee." With a snicker at the irony of it all, the two lovers rushed to catch up with the rest of their friends.

* * *

"Could we go over this one more time?" Rick was thankful that somebody was just as puzzled as him over the whole thing. For a second there, he had wondered if his big brother had given him decaf as a joke. Heck, even Lisa seemed puzzled by the plan. With a sigh he settled back in his seat, relieved that it wasn't him. The plan was just plain crazy. 

The Admiral was just as frustrated as the rest of them. In an uncharacteristic gesture for him, he rubbed his thumb and fore finger across his eyes while he gave a small sigh. He knew the whole group was not confused by the plan since it was extremely simple. The reason for its simplicity was owed to a very important fact; they barely HAD a plan. The frustration of all those gathered was not so much at not understanding but that they could not fathom the fact that there really was nothing planned. Not that he could blame them, he felt exactly the same way.

Masking his thoughts as much as possible, he turned to Captain Fokker who had been the only one brave enough to ask the question. "Captain Fokker it is very simple. As I have tried to explain your mission will be to train with the different groups that we have contacted to become our allies. We are planning at this point to take a defensive stand against our attackers. We need this in order to make sure our counter-attacks will be effective."

"In other words you have no idea what the heck we will be fighting against." Roy could not have been more right on.

"Admiral if I may?" Dr Lang asked. The relieved man gave him the go ahead. As much as he loved all of the people present as his family he had to admit that they all had frightful tempers. "You are very right in that assessment Captain Fokker. Although we have narrowed the enemies that we might be facing we do not have an exact idea what their abilities are. We do not even know why they would have joined forces with the Zentraedi or even why the Zentraedi would have wanted to join with other beings." Saying this, Dr. Lang turned to Exedore as if seeking a confirmation.

"You are indeed correct Dr. Lang, it is not something that the Zentraedi are used to doing. There are no indications in our history that this has ever been done and still…" The gnomish Zentraedi seemed to hesitate. "And still I must admit that there are many moons near the planet that is home to the Robotech Masters. Maybe the allies belong to one of the many civilizations that are there." He said almost to himself. Around him the others blanched at the prospect of the unknown threat.

"That is why it is imperative that for now we focus on building a strong and united front in order to deal with whatever threat we face." Admiral Gloval interjected. He didn't want his crew to go into full panic at the prospect of another enemy who could be even stronger than the Zentraedi. "We hope that in the process we might learn more about who the Zentraedis' allies are and we can come up with a way of disabling this new threat." He looked around trying to determine the state of mind of his crew. They looked back at him, their faces pale but he could see the determination in their eyes. He smiled inwardly. He knew he could count on them for this. They were all brave warriors who would do everything in their power to defend Earth. He hoped their new allies felt the same passion as they did. From what he had learned, they did.

"We will be working with two very distinctive teams. One, which you will be part of, is the combat forces. The other will be a team of scientists that will work on putting all of the information together and hopefully will be working at developing new weapons to counteract the attacks."

"Can we have some information about our allies?" Ever practical Lisa asked.

"Yes, in fact I was expecting that question." Admiral Gloval nodded to his First Officer and continued. "Of the allies that have accepted to help, there is only one that is an organized entity similar to ours. The name of this army is Mechakkon and they are based mostly in Europe in a town called Viktor Town. It is in fact one of their training grounds that we will use as a base. It is ground based but secluded enough to give us the protection we need. Aside from their ground troops they also possess a robot that roughly resembles a VF's Battloid mode. This robot is called Gordian and is piloted by a young man by the name of Daigo Ottaki. To my understanding this is their strongest line of defense. The second group, based in Japan, is more loosely comprised. This group is headed by a Scientist named Kazuki. His ship, The Liberty, is unfortunately not constructed to be a water carrier but can be used as a mobile base. Their combat force is mainly made up of two small robots, the Plyzer and the Mighty. These robots can fight independently, although when needed, their pilots, Takeru Hoyo and Mai Kazuki join forces to control a bigger, stronger robot called Gakeen. The third group is actually a lone cyborg by the name of Kogo. From what I heard this man is virtually indestructible and can even become, at will, as tall as a full grown Zentraedi." Surprised intakes of breath were heard all around the table. Exedore leaned in, interested in the micronian that could become a fierce warrior like his race. "Kogo was removed from a vital mission in outer space. In fact another of the advantages of having this cyborg with us is his marvelous ship… Dr. Lang care to elaborate?"

The scientist seemed eager to jump in, almost fidgeting in his seat in his excitement. Rick hid his smile behind his refilled coffee mug. He could bet the good scientist was excited at the prospect of getting his hands on that piece of technology for further investigation.

"Well his ship was built by a brilliant scientist, Dr. Dodge, who gave it to him after he was created. This ship can travel faster than the speed of light, traveling across various light years in mere minutes. He can achieve an effect very similar to that of a space fold without actually leaving the temporal space just by traveling thru it."

"But isn't that mode of travel dangerous for humans? I thought the purpose of the space fold was to prevent the human heart from collapsing at these speeds. It's strenuous for the body to keep with the speed necessary to cross space in that quantity of time." Lisa asked in puzzlement.

Rick's mouth went slack. What the hell had she said? Since when was Lisa so… so… brilliant? Giving himself a shake, he had to admit that it had been unfair of him to think that, after all he had known that she WAS smart and possessed an inquisitive mind to boot. He had heard from both Claudia and Roy that she spent hours reading on theory such as this so that she could be well informed on the subject. In fact, for all that he knew, she was one of the very few people that knew and understood the SDF-1 inside and out. He felt grudging respect for the insufferable know-it-all.

"You have to remember he is a cyborg."

"Is he not human?" Claudia asked, her forehead creasing in a slight frown.

"No, he is human." Lang responded. "His body though has some robotic parts which make his metabolism endure more."

"What was his mission?" Quiet Max asked curiously.

"He is part of the entourage that was heading to the center of the galaxy." The Admiral took over the explanations. "Their purpose is to bring back the balance that was disrupted and has been affecting the whole galaxy. There have been scientific investigations that have proved that the balance of the whole Universe can be achieved by having a being with special powers ruling over the Deco planet in the center of the galaxy. The emanations that issue forth from this Being are amplified by the planet itself and distributed throughout the galaxy. Without these emanations of power, the balance shifts and what once was peaceful becomes monstrous and warlike." The crew looked skeptical at this.

"Forgive me Admiral but that sounds like a bunch of neo-peace loving ideas that the anti-military would sprout. It's ridiculous to think that all the ills, all the wars have a root in the imbalance of power from the center of the galaxy?" Roy said.

"Their theory rests in the fact that it is the decline in the positive energy which creates an imbalance that is manifested in a series of mutations that have become quite violent."

Roy looked positively disgusted with the whole idea while the rest of the younger crew merely looked unconvinced. Looking towards the others, Rick noticed that Lang seemed mildly interested in the subject. Upon spying Exedore however he had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. The man seemed to be hanging on every word that the Admiral said. The poor man seemed ready to believe any fairy tale he was told, Rick thought, but he was distracted by a muttering to his side. He could have sworn he heard Roy say something along the lines of "Bunch of tree-hugging pansies if you ask me…" Which earned him a swift kick from his fiancée.

"Aside from that, the other group will be working closely with Exedore and Dr. Lang in developing new equipment. They will be in direct contact with Lord Breetai abord the factory satellite. We are hopeful that their knowledge coupled with the other scientists' will be able to create strong defenses for our cause."

"There is also the fact that many of them have similar technologies to our Battloids." Dr. Lang interjected which grabbed the attention of them all. "As I mentioned before, some of the scientists who will be collaborating with us were part of the original team that investigated the SDF-1. Some of their ideas for those mega robots evolved from the SDF-1. It will be interesting to see how they will merge together." Dr. Lang said, his voice for a change animated.

"I thought the original team that worked in the SDF-1 was still here in its entirety" Lisa mused puzzled.

"No Captain." The scientist corrected her. "The original team was comprised of different people. In fact I was just there as an apprentice at the time, certainly not even as a participant. Those men and women are the top eminencies of the scientific field. It will be an honor to be working with them." Lang mused to himself.

'Isn't that a self-centered thought?' Rick thought. Sometimes he wondered if Dr. Lang just worked with them for the sole purpose of gaining more knowledge than for the actual desire to help. The Admiral's words put a stop to his thoughts as they brought him back to the present.

"Very well I hope that you are already clear on what will happen when we reach the Mechakon camp two days from now. You will all be relieved from duty until time of departure. In this time I want you all to prepare yourselves and your belongings for the time ahead." Looking around the table he saw them all nod their consent. Before he dismissed them he wanted to impart a piece of advice. "I hope I do not need to remind you that we do not know how long this venture will take." He paused to see the effect of his words, seeing that he still had their rapt attention, he continued. "Therefore I would like to reiterate the fact that you will be removed from your surroundings and moved to a place where you will know no others but yourselves. Aside from that you will be working with three other different groups, three unknown factions which will look to you for leadership. Consequently you need to remain a strong unit. You will need to be the nexus that holds all these different groups together." He advised, his head low enough to cause the brim of his officer's cap to shadow his eyes from everybody. Even if they could not see his eyes, all of them knew who those words were directed to. Both Lisa and Rick were mortified that they were singled out in such a manner even if the statement was vague enough.

Rick snuck a guilty glance towards the brown haired woman. Frosty green eyes met his gaze and her eyes narrowed dangerously when she realized his attention towards her. Rick gulped nervously when he saw her expression. He did not need to be reminded that the woman had quite a temper. He promised to himself to take the Admirals' words to heart and try to be civil to the woman. After all he knew from past encounters that they could have an amicable conversation when they actually tried. If fact they got along quite alright as long as their conversations were far removed from the topics of work, Minmay and Kyle. With this resolve in his mind, the young Captain decided to approach the woman and talk to her about it.

* * *

Lisa was beyond mortified. She couldn't believe the Admiral had said that! Granted those that had witnessed his words were almost family (with the exception of Exedore and Lang) but it still stung that he would have brought up her situation to the forefront in that way. After all Lisa was a very private person and she hated to have her life openly brought up in public. Oh, she was not stupid. She knew the whole base gossiped about her and her doomed love affair with the dark haired Captain but at least they did it behind her back and not to her face! 

She walked at a rapid pace, her heels clicking on the smooth surface of the hallway. Her pace never wavered as she made her way out of the base intent on hiding in her house until the time when they all had to leave. Maybe that way she could avoid more humiliation she thought snidely. With a soft sigh she had to admit that her humiliation really came from the fact that she was so transparent. For the longest time she had prided herself on the control she had achieved over her emotions. Until the day a messy haired teenager had appeared in her life and all her self control had gone out the window.

Lisa wove thru the people, her gaze directed to the floor. She knew her feelings were too raw right now to face them all. She tried to keep her frosty image in place, hoping she could reach her home before it crumbled all together. Then her resolve was seriously tested when she heard the voice of her tormentor.

"Captain Hayes! A moment please."

Lisa almost groaned out loud as she seriously debated on continuing on. The fact that they were in a crowded hallway, with witnesses all around, kept her from bolting. She didn't want this new episode recounted to everybody on the base by nightfall. Closing her eyes in order to steel herself, she turned around just in time to see the young Captain jogging towards her. His momentum and the fact that she had taken a step forward when she had turned to face him caused them almost to collide with each other. She rapidly took a step back to put some distance between them and to avoid being trampled by the man.

Rick came to a stop just inches across from his Captain. Thanking his quick reflexes, he looked over to Lisa to notice her wary expression. 'Great! Here I am trying to be friendly with her and putting her at ease and I almost scare the living daylights out of her.' He thought, a wry smile tugging at his lips.

Lisa watched him nervously. She was surprised that Rick wanted to talk to her after "The Incident" as she was starting to call it, and his actions right now only served to put her at a distinct disadvantage. She was flustered by the fact that they almost collided, which would have proven disastrous in such a well transited hallway, but the fact that they now stood very close to each other was starting to wreak havoc in what little she still possessed of her mind.

Clear blue eyes watched her intently. Lisa nervously licked her suddenly dry lips as she wondered if she had missed a question from him. Seconds that felt like minutes passed making Lisa agonize more. A whisper to her right made her realize that they had been looking at each other without speaking. Knowing how incriminating they must look and not wanting to throw any more information to the gossip mill, she ordered the Captain to follow her.

Completely oblivious to the fact they were being observed closely by the members of the base that had witnessed the scene, Rick obediently trotted after his CO. He was very happy that she was willing to listen to him. They reached her office and he was hurriedly ushered inside by her.

Having reached the sanctuary of her office, Lisa felt the tension she had felt in the corridor ease somewhat. Slumping her shoulders a bit she turned around, startling when she realized how close Rick had been. For the second time in a matter of minutes, she had to jump back from the male body in front of her. Rick apparently had not noticed anything wrong as he was giving her that lopsided boyish grin that made all the women on the base sigh. She was no better than them though as she could feel her knees going weak at seeing it. Trying to mask her reaction and intending to get the upper hand again, Lisa told him, "Sit down Captain Hunter." In a brisk voice as she indicated a seat.

Rick looked over to the seat and back at her, his brow furrowing adorably. Lisa cursed herself inwardly for her weakness and held her breath as he apparently made his decision. With a shake of his midnight black hair, Rick responded, "Thanks Captain but I rather stand."

Now Lisa cursed him for his decision. She'd much rather have him sit down than looming over her; his body still too close for comfort. She was not a small woman, standing well over 5'7" in her stockings. The regulation pumps added two inches to her height giving her a total of 5'9" on most days which made her a tall woman by most standards. In fact, she remembered the time when she used to be able to look at Rick in the eyes and still wondered to this day when he had actually grown so tall. Apparently Rick was one of those men that had achieved a growth spurt late in life and he had managed to attain a nice height of 6'0". While that made him even sexier in Lisa's eyes, she had to admit she hated having lost the upper hand in the physical aspect. Giving a frustrated sigh, she prompted the infuriating man to speak.

"Well Captain," he started, his voice sounding a little bit uncertain. "The Admiral's words today made me think…" seeing her eyes narrowing again at the mention of his words, he hastened to say, "I was thinking that we should really put aside our differences. I mean I respect you and your decisions… at least most of the time" He stammered at the disbelieving expression on her face. "That got me to remember that we can actually get along without acting like an old married couple." Uh, bad choice of words Hunter! He thought, wincing inwardly as he took in her dumbfounded expression. "Well, you know what I mean… I have enjoyed spending time with you and I must admit I did blow the whole thing of the factory satellite completely out of proportion. After all, you were also forced to do it too, right?" He asked managing to look at her from beneath his eyelashes as he kept his face trained towards the ground. He really did not want to look at her in he eyes now. He was still so ashamed to be asked to "perform" something so intimate in front of so many people. Idly he wondered if Minmay felt the same whenever she was acting for any of her movies. His mind wandered down that tangent and he promptly lost his train of thought.

On the other hand Lisa was staring at the man in front of her in deep shock. Not only had he sort of apologized for his outburst after the kiss they had shared but his words seemed to indicate that he wanted something more. Lisa's heart started beating a heavy rhythm and her breath caught raggedly in her throat as hope unfurled in her breast. She looked at his faraway expression and wondered if he was remembering their kiss as she was replaying it right now. In a voice made thicker by emotion she said, "Yes, we can definitely get along just fine."

The voice, a sultry alto, much deeper than Minmay's piping soprano snapped Rick from his thoughts of the singer. For a second he looked at the woman in front of him in confusion. Then he remembered what they had been talking about and gave her a blinding smile. "I'm very glad you agree." He smiled again when he saw the shy smile Lisa was giving him. Rick paused to look at her. He really liked seeing her smile since she didn't do it that often and it made her look much younger and carefree. He had heard many times from Roy how stressed she was and he thought that she needed to be distracted from all that. That was one of the reasons why he used to joke with her and, until the whole factory incident, he had been very proud of the responses he had gotten from her. He hoped it loosened her up so that she wouldn't be stressed so much.

In his relief at getting such a positive response from the normally taciturn woman, he was careless with his next words. Rick would never understand why she had gone from being warm and open to the normally stern frigid woman in mere seconds.

"Yes, after all since you are Roy's and Max and Miriya's friend it is better if we get along, since we always end up seeing each other at their get-togethers." He said in amusement.

At his words, Lisa felt as if a bucket of icy water had been thrown on her. Rick wanted to be civil to her because of their common friends? Not because of any interest in her as a person? She felt hurt and betrayed but mostly she felt completely ridiculous. Her world seemed to crumble at the realization that yet again she had left herself open for disappointment.

Rick's teasing smile faded as he noticed how her expression closed off instantly. 'What the heck had happened?' He thought to himself. He didn't have long to wonder as Lisa rapidly regained her composure and her tattered dignity around her like a warm blanket of comfort. She straightened her spine and her chin rose fractionally as she responded, "You are very right Captain Hunter. I believe we have to behave in order to preserve their mental sanity." She said her wry tone masking the hurt she felt.

Rick nodded his assent although he was still eyeing her a little bit warily. He felt there was something different but he couldn't tell what it was. Lisa had seemed more open a few seconds ago but now she had gone all professional on him again. Deciding to let it go for now, after all she had agreed to their "truce", he said, "Well you can start by calling me Rick from now on."

Lisa's eyes narrowed a bit betraying her pain but she rapidly recovered. With a nod, she agreed. "Well Rick," she said, emphasizing his name, "I am going to collect some things and then I am going home. Are you finished with all your preparations?" She asked, rapidly steering the conversation away from the personal.

"I finished packing already but there are still a few things I still need to take care of." He said, thinking he still had to call Minmay to let her know he was leaving. Understanding that Lisa was trying to dismiss him gently, he decided not to push her for today and took his leave.

Lisa saw him leave with a wave and a carefree smile. Once again her heart lay in pieces and her dignity in tatters. Even though she had recouped during the conversation, in its aftermath she wanted nothing else but to cry. Her eyes went glassy as the green orbs filled with tears.

She remained motionless, her eyes unfocused as she refused her tears to fall. It was in that state that Claudia found her a few minutes later.

* * *

A/N 1: The by the locations of where the "allies' forces" are located mean that I made those some of those up. In the series, Mechakon IS in a city called Viktor Town but it is not in Europe. I wanted to spread out the forces so they are all over the world, therefore Mechakon is from Europe, The Liberty group is from Japan and Robotech people are going to be from the United States. FOr the purpose of my story let's pretend that that is the case. 

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter but if it makes you all feel better I already have a rough draft of Chapter 3. Hopefully that will mean a faster update.

Anyway here is what to expect next chapter:

Chapter 3:

The Robotech team goes to Mechakon camp. We finally get to meet some of the allies. Lisa will get to see what she has to work with. What will the Robotech crew think of their allies? We will also get to see a little bit more of the connection between the Zentraedi and their mysterious allies.


	3. Into Mechakon Camp

Sorry for the long wait guys!

Thanks so very much to everybody that has reviewed. Please, if you are reading this let me know what you think. It's going tobe a longer story (planning at least more than 15 chapters) so it would be nice to know what you guys think about it. Believe me, this is JUST STARTING! After they all meet and break the ice that's when things will start happening!

This is the first time that we see one group of the allies... there are 3 more to come! But don't worry, it is first and foremost a Rick and Lisa story.

Tons and tons of thanks to my beta dwparsnip. You all should be thanking him too... He's the one that makes it all sound coherent at the end.

* * *

Lisa, Claudia and Miriya were standing next to the aircraft carrier waiting for the rest of the crew. The men had grumbled a bit when they had been informed that they would not be piloting their own planes to the base. It had been decided it would be better if their allies received a single aircraft rather than a contingent of aircrafts for the purpose of keeping their movements shielded from their enemies. After the meaning had sunk thru their thick skulls they had reluctantly agreed that the idea had merit. That however did not stop them from making sure their "babies" were safely stored in the carrier before they left. This left the women waiting for them outside instead of joining the Admiral, Dr. Lang and the rest of the people that were traveling to the Mechakon camp inside of the ship. 

In truth Lisa felt sort of silly to be waiting with the rest of them. It wasn't as if she had to wait for her significant other. That bubble had been burst two days ago with their last conversation. The whole embarrassing incident had served as an eye opener to show what Rick actually thought of her. That day she had felt devastated, her emotions had taken quite a beating but Lisa was not a Hayes for nothing. She had rapidly gathered enough of her composure to agree with him even if she had wanted nothing but to go and hide. It had taken a good scolding from the woman she considered her sister, to pull Lisa from her apathetic state. It was then that she promised herself to behave with a cooler head around the black haired pilot.

Which brought her back to the whole debacle in her head. Should she go into the ship or should she stay and act nonchalant when they came to join them? After all, the others were her friends too! Why, she knew Roy before Rick came into the picture and, in the time she had gotten to know him, she had come to truly like Max. She refused to be driven away from all of them because of her silly romantic notions.

In the meantime, Claudia was secretly amused as she watched her friend's indecision. Lisa kept giving nervous glances to the hangar's door from where the guys were supposed to come out and join them. Claudia was worried about the friend that was more than a sister to her. It was so sad how it all came down to the fact of Lisa's self esteem issues. That Rick was completely blind when it came to love was not the problem. Rick was a lonely man, hung up in a fantasy. If Lisa was a little bit bolder she could have him wrapped around her little finger in no time. The truly sad part was that Lisa had never been a limp noodle when it came to guys. In fact Claudia was still completely shocked with her friend's attitude. Something had happened to destroy Lisa's self confidence and damned if she would not help her get it back! Claudia thought to herself fiercely

"You know it won't do you any good if you are preparing an angry retort for whenever he appears." Claudia said, noticing the little frown that marred her friend's forehead.

Lisa looked at her, completely surprised by her accurate words. A blush of shame tinged her cheeks and made her look like a chastened girl. She was doing it again! Letting herself be ruled by a man. Since when had she become so weak?

"Lisa don't beat yourself about it, I completely understand. I was like that when I first realized I had fallen in love with Roy. It wasn't easy to swallow the fact that I was in love with the base's Casanova."

"At least you guys hit it off from the start!" Lisa grumbled.

"Ha! That is what you think." Claudia said, her eyes sparkling with laughter. Miriya looked at her curiously. "Remind me to tell you that story sometime." She told the two women. "The point is they are infuriating, arrogant and completely clueless most of the time but we still can't help falling in love with them. It doesn't help that they are good looking too." Claudia said with a wink.

"Max is not infuriating." Miriya came to the defense of her husband in an affronted manner.

"Yes Miriya, your husband is an exception." Claudia had to admit. Lisa just kept looking ahead with a morose expression so to get her out of the mood, Claudia decided to tease her.

"So, did you pack any lingerie? It's going to be a long year. You might get lucky." She said with a wink.

"Claudia!" Lisa said her cheeks reddening again.

"I did." Miriya quipped helpfully. Claudia and Lisa had to hold the urge to roll her eyes. Sometimes Miriya gave away WAY too much information.

Bringing the subject back at hand, Claudia said, "You did pack something else than functional boring clothes didn't you honey? I wasn't kidding. It could get rather boring. We might even have time to go out a couple of times. And anyways you can't be wearing your uniform forever!"

"Claudia we are not going to Club Med you know. We are going to train for a war." Lisa interjected, her chin going up in an affronted manner. She was not going to admit to her friends that she had indeed packed a few comfortable and feminine clothing. She would not hear the end of it.

"As I said, it is a long time. Maybe you can even get to show Rick your Hayes charm." Claudia said slyly.

"Stop that Claudia. I told you there won't be anything between us. I am trying to get over him." Lisa looked away which is why she missed the knowing look her two friends gave each other.

"Oh I don't know if you want to do that Lisa. He might be a jerk and maybe a little befuddled about his feelings but he has not been chosen as hunk of the month by the female pilots for the 5th time this year for no reason. Miriya said so." Claudia said and the Meltrandi in question nodded her head enthusiastically. "Maybe they know more than we know… after all they are pretty close to the male locker room." Claudia added slyly almost laughing out loud at the reaction she received from her friend. Lisa gasped loudly and turned to them, a shocked expression on her face.

"Do they actually go in?" She asked her green eyes impossibly wide.

"Oh don't be such a prude Lisa it is very unbecoming." Her friend scolded good naturedly as her hazel eyes sparkled with mirth. "They don't go in but sometimes the boys walk out shirtless…" As if on cue, Rick came out of the hangar, opening the door with enough force to have it bang against the wall. He stalked towards the ship his eyes blazing and his face quite red. He was closely followed by a smirking Roy. Max was trying very hard not to laugh. The women looked at each other perplexed wondering what could have Rick in such a tiff. As the men got closer, they could hear their conversation.

"What's up with those women? Haven't they seen a man shirtless before?" Rick hissed in exasperation.

"I don't know little brother, no idea why they would want to see that scrawny little chest of yours." Roy said with a laugh.

Rick would have replied with a snide remark had it not been for Lisa's interruption. She could not contain herself and said, "Maybe if you stop being such an exhibitionist you might not get so much attention."

She said, her voice frosty and her attitude all Captain Hayes. Everybody opened their eyes at her remark surprised that Lisa would say something like that. After recovering form her initial surprise, Claudia had to bite the insides of her cheek to keep from laughing. Finally the real Lisa was coming thru! It had been a long time. She had missed her sarcastic remarks too much she thought with fondness.

Rick opened his mouth and closed it in a good imitation of a fish out of water. He heard a snicker and thought it was Roy. The sound accompanied by her defiance drove him to say, "Are you jealous you did not get a showing? Should I issue an invitation next time?" The black haired pilot taunted back.

Lisa was red and sputtering, she was left speechless by his comeback. It was bad enough that he had said that in front of the others but it was really her reaction to the images her mind brought up what left her speechless. She wanted to kick herself for taunting him. She should have known better. After all of the two, she didn't know who had the worst temper.

"You better take that back little brother before she actually accepts the invitation." Roy said with humor to try to diffuse the situation.

Rick apparently realized that same instant what had happened and he cursed inwardly. Didn't he just promise to be civil towards her a mere two days ago? What had happened to that resolve? Lisa happened, he thought, answering his own question. Not for the first time in all the years that he knew the Captain he wondered why this woman could blow his cool when so many others had tried and failed miserably. For the most part Rick had a very mild temper. He wasn't the perfect image of patience as Max was, but he certainly was not a hot head like his big brother, except when it came to her.

Rick and Lisa were still eyeing each other like gunslingers in a showdown when Henry Gloval decided to see what the delay was. Seeing the remainder of his crew ready to go he called them inside. Obediently, they all shuffled to get the rest of their things and walk towards the stairs.

Lisa was the first to move, not before giving Rick one last spiteful look. With the affronted air of a dethroned queen, she walked ahead of all of them, calling herself a hundred times a fool for falling into the same trap all over again.

Behind her, Rick shook his head and followed her, still fuming about the whole thing. Who the hell did she think she was? He stalked towards the ship his mood even blacker than before. As he approached his seat he thought his day couldn't get any worse than it was. First he had not been able to get a hold of Minmay in order to tell her he was leaving. Then came the whole thing with the female pilots. Normally he would just shrug off their antics but today his embarrassment at being ogled upon had just served to put him in a worse mood. But the icing on the cake had been the whole incident with Captain Hayes. He almost groaned as he sunk even deeper in his seat. He couldn't wait till they got to the base. Maybe the Tequila he had packed might not be wasted after all.

Roy, Claudia, Max and Miriya had walked behind the two not wanting to get caught in their firing range. As they watched their friends settle in on the ship, they all looked forward to the sparks that would fly this year. Their devious minds were making plans as the pilots made all the preparations to depart.

* * *

Daigo Ottaki was hiding. Well, he really wouldn't call it hiding, more like avoiding the madness. The whole base was running around like chickens without heads as they got ready for the arrival of their new allies. His clear blue eyes swept the encampment. From his vantage point on the hill overlooking the base, he could see the comings and goings of the others as they made the final preparations to receive them. He was supposed to be part of all that but he really could care less about all the bureaucratic crap others cared about. He had to admit though; it was a blessing to have more trained people on their side who actually knew what they were doing. Their troops had started to dwindle with their battle to the point that they had to depend more and more on volunteer groups that were enthusiastic but not hardened enough for battle. It didn't matter really, he more than made up for their lack by using Gordian. The giant robot had been the deciding factor in most of their fights against Madokter. 

There were many things he didn't understand. He really didn't know what the Madokters were after although he had a few guesses based on the areas they usually hit. Aside from that, there was the mystery of the unusual power that lay in the center of Viktor Town and that his father knew about.

With a huff, the 23 year old lay on his back and stared at the clear blue sky and its fluffy white clouds. He really didn't care about anything that the upper brass decided. He just did as he was told, brought out the robot Gordian that only he could pilot, defeated the bad guys and that was it. He occasionally went against the rules when he thought they made no sense, which happened quite often, and sometimes disrupted the peace when he thought that things were getting too dull.

A wicked grin split his tanned face. After all, having too much peace and quiet meant monotony and that led to boredom. He reflected that boredom led to lax defenses and that could get them all killed. So he rationalized it was up to him to keep them on their toes. He remembered with fondness the first base he had been assigned to. His smile took on a dreamy quality as he remembered his first assignment. His unit had been asked to build a base, a rather hard toiling and monotonous work. So what was a healthy 18 year old male to do in a situation like that? Well he decided to go target practice. With a grimace he remembered how he brought down their only watch tower getting himself almost expelled from the force. But, he thought with a sigh, the good thing was they had managed to knock off a pretty good chunk of the enemy battalion. Of course the base had been ruined in the process and Barry, his commander, had almost gotten killed but all in all everything had come all right at the end.

A deep menacing growl cut thru his nostalgic thoughts. In a fluid movement, Daigo shifted to a crouch and slipped his gun from its holster. He strained his ears to determine what the danger was. After a few seconds, he heard loud trampling footsteps and he relaxed slightly, however he did not reholster his gun.

Still hearing the low growl, Daigo turned to his pet and said: "Don't worry about it Clint. An enemy would not make so much noise." As if to prove him right, the noise got even louder and Daigo relaxed again when he finally saw who it was. Reholstering his pistol, he lay back down waiting until his friend approached him.

Slightly out of breath, Ryoma finally reached the brown haired young man who was laying in the grass without a care in the world. He shifted his samurai sword so he could plop down next to him and when he did, he glared down at his friend.

"What is up with you? Everybody has been looking for you. Peachy and Barry are promising bloody murder when they finally find you."

Daigo's lips curled into an amused smile as he thought of his commander and his friend. Both of them had horrible tempers aside from the fact of being sticklers for rules. He went back to his original statement that they could do well with getting their senses rattled every once in a while. Suddenly a thought struck him and he asked, "Is Saori also worried about me?" Only knowing that his sister was worried would actually make him come back.

"Nah! She says you will come back whenever you are ready. Whatever that means." Said the other man.

Daigo chuckled in amusement. His sister knew him too well, even if they had not grown up together.

"So are you ready now?" The dark man asked his companion.

"I don't think so. I might just wait until the people that are coming are settled in before I come back."

"You are kidding, right? Commander Barry will have your head! Do you remember the last stunt you pulled? He threatened to have you expelled."

Daigo snorted his amusement and said. "You should know better by now. Barry…" "Commander Barry" his friend corrected him. "Barry" Daigo emphasized the name again. "Threatens to get me booted out at least once every week. I remember one time he actually said it twice the same week." Daigo looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What is it to you? You are one of the biggest rule breakers I've ever known, added to that the fact that you do not technically belong to Mechakon. Why do you care?" Daigo narrowed his cerulean eyes suspiciously as he took in his friend's innocent expression. "Oh, I see! You are hoping there are women on board aren't you!"

A wide grin split across the samurai's face. "Heck yeah! It's women from America1, fresh meat!"

Daigo rolled his eyes and said with amusement. "And who would want to go out with you with that homey face?" He said, teasing his friend good naturedly.

Ryoma straightened his clothing in an affronted manner while his eyes twinkled at their running joke. Ryoma was not an ugly man but he was certainly average, at least when he was next to Daigo he was. His friend was too good looking. He even had dimples when he smiled for crying out loud!

"That is why I need you to be there. Women just flock to that pretty face of yours and when you turn them down there I am ready to console them on their hour of need."

Daigo chuckled in amusement. Trust his friend to shake him out of whatever mood he was in and make him get back to camp. As he stood up, Ryoma looked at his friend and couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at the sight. Not everybody could get away with wearing a body suit but Daigo could. Daigo would never be a bulky man. As much as he bemoaned his slim body and the lack of bulk that put him off being a football player, it was this coupled with his boyish face that had all the girls sighing in his vicinity. Daigo, much to their annoyance and heartache, did not enjoy all the attention and avoided them at all cost. In fact the only female that he approached was Peachy, the commander of the female forces, and it probably was because she did not bat her lashes continuously when she talked to him.

"What makes you think that any of those females will be any different than the ones we have here?" Daigo said, his voice pulling him out of his musings.

"There are very few unattached women at the base and from those there are only three of those that would interest me enough."

Daigo's easy going demeanor went away and he narrowed his eyes dangerously. "I told you to stay away from my sister."

"Don't worry about that! Even if I wanted… which I don't" he added quickly. "I wouldn't be able to compete with Barry."

Daigo's face darkened further at the comment. Even if he preferred to ignore all the silly romantic liaisons that happened around him, he couldn't very well ignore them when they involved his sister. Thankfully his commander treated his sister with respect showing all his men that Saori was a lady and deserved to be treated as such. That did not mean though he didn't keep a sharp eye on the man, commander or not. He decided to ignore the comment for now and told the other man. "That doesn't mean you can't go after the other two." He said with a smirk.

Daigo had to suppress his snickers at the expression of pure horror in the other man's face.

"Are you crazy? How can you say that?"

"They are good looking after all."

"You know very well that little devil that hangs around your sister would probably do some bodily harm if I look at her the wrong way and I am not brave enough to handle Peachy's temper." The older man said with a shudder.

Daigo had to agree with his assessments. Both ladies were scary in their own rights but at least they did not behave like idiots around him.

A rumble distracted them from their conversation. They turned rapidly to see a huge aircraft approaching the landing field. A wicked grin split the younger man's face as he studied the foreign ship.

"Come on Ryoma! Our guests have arrived. The show's about to start." And with that he took off, his pet following closely behind.

Knowing Daigo's penchant for mischief, Ryoma wasted no time in following. After all, he did not want to miss the show.

Peachy was still grumbling about insubordination as she stood beside him. Daigo was having a hard time suppressing his smile. It was so easy to get her panties in a twist. They had been going at it ever since they met. He was grateful though. She, or rather baiting her temper, was one of the reasons he did not go crazy in this unit. Thankfully he'd had only to deal with her reproaches as his commander was in too much of a nervous state to do much. He did not put it past him though that as soon as this was over he was going to get another lecture about responsibility from the man.

Tuning out the nagging at his side, he looked around him at the members of his team as they waited for the ship to finally land. Barry was holding himself stiff as if he had a poker stuck on his back which meant that Barry was making quite an effort not to pace, Daigo thought with a knowing smile. To his side Peachy had now become silent, watching in wonder the ship as it slowly made its descent. His sister, Saori, looked upon the arrival from the civilian side of the camp. Aside from that, the rest of the group was a complete disaster.

Here and there you could see some of the women applying various layers of makeup or plumping their hair. Daigo snorted. Some of them needed a lot of help in that regard. The men were making sure their uniforms looked good or better yet that they looked good in their uniforms. They looked on expectantly as wolves after their prey making him feel slightly nauseous. 'Really', he thought in disgust, 'was there any doubt as to why they were losing this battle?'

Daigo fidgeted a bit praying that their allies would get down soon so that they could all leave the arid airstrip and go back inside to eat a little bit of lunch. He was starting to get hungry. As if on cue, his stomach growled, earning him a dirty look from the blond companion to his side. He gave Peachy a sheepish smile and tried to settle down. Finally after what seemed like hours but could not have been more than ten minutes, the ship's door opened. The bottom door doubled as the stairs so they didn't have to wait long for them to come down, something Daigo was immensely grateful for.

The first man to come out must be their commander. He was a tall, older man probably in his late fifties. He couldn't see his features very well since his cap was throwing shadows over his face but Daigo had an impression of a hooked nose and a thick mustache as he looked around. Finally spotting Barry, the man descended the steps to meet him. Right behind the commander, came another man, also older who looked upon the scene impassively. His features seemed to be made out of wax as if there were no emotions. Daigo felt a shiver across his spine. The man looked creepy. Following the creepy one, was a gnome like being with reddish hair and a strange grayish skin tone. 'He looks like a science experiment gone bad.' Daigo thought wrinkling his nose. These allies were looking weirder by the minute.

Finally, somebody normal looking came out. Daigo had to roll his eyes though when all the women gave a simultaneous sigh. The man was tall, well over 6' tall, slim built and with a rakish hairstyle. Daigo gave a sigh of relief. Maybe the featherbrains in his unit would leave him alone now that they had fresh meat. Still his relief was short lived when the blond man turned to help one of the female officers to come down. Even as professional as they were acting, he could tell there was something between them. It was the same way Barry treated his sister when they were in front of a crowd.

Oh well, there might still be hope. All in all, there were twenty men and half of that number of females in the ally's battalion. A small number that was sure, but from what he had been told their forces were quite powerful. Aside from that, they were not their only allies.

Daigo scanned the group and his gaze stopped over quite a few of the soldiers. He wondered about some of their hair and skin colors. Aside from the odd gnome, there were a few men and females that looked very human but had something a little bit off. Their hair and skin coloring was not something that was found in any human race. One woman in particular struck him. She was the most normal looking of the bunch but her green, almost neon hair, was not exactly human. Daigo could tell that that was not a shade that could be found in any beauty salon.

Daigo was about to comment to his friend Ryoma about their allies when he noticed the slightly glazed look he wore. Rolling his eyes he decided to give the man a few moments to take in the military women in their uniforms.

Finally his friend said. "What a woman!" His voice sounded awed.

'Here we go again.' Daigo thought. Seeking to indulge him he said "Who? The looker with the green hair?" He said it a little bit loud too and got the expected reaction. Peachy, who had been straining to look at the new arrivals, now turned to him giving him a dirty look. Daigo just gave her an insolent wink that made her head turn with such a force, her short blonde curls bounced.

"No, not that one. Don't you see she's holding a baby? I am not a home wrecker you know. I have my standards." He sniffed insulted. "No, the one with the skirt uniform. Look at those legs!"

Well, that narrowed it down. Daigo took another look at the new comers as they stood talking to Barry. Apparently the ones with skirts were higher ranking officers as they stood next to the commander as he spoke with Barry.

"You mean the dark skinned one? I am sorry to tell you but I think she is going out with the tall blond guy."

"She is? No matter it wasn't her I was talking about, it's the one with the white uniform."

Daigo did a double take. "Of all the women… You like her?" Daigo looked skeptical. The brown haired woman was not ugly, not by far… she was just… bland. Very pale and with a serious expression on her face, to complement the matronly hairstyle she wore, this woman was not what he would have expected Ryoma to go after. All of the women he had seen his friend with were flashy and young. This seemed like a mature, no-nonsense woman.

"She is amazing." Ryoma breathed barely taking his eyes from her. Noticing for the first time his friend's expression, the samurai said. "Don't you see the amazing body she has? Long legs, tiny waist… and that hair! Not quite brown, not quite blond… it is so unusual."

"It's called honey brown." - he deadpanned.

"Honey… yes." He breathed again in awe. Daigo looked upon his enraptured expression with something akin to worry in his eyes. "Who is she?" The smitten man asked.

Daigo shrugged. He guessed he would know who she was if he had paid attention in the meetings but… Inspiration struck him as he knew who would know.

"Hey Peaches." He whispered again to the petite woman in front of him. While they had been carrying on, Peachy had tried to move as far away as she possibly could. Unfortunately for her, because of their formation, or what passed for it, she couldn't move very far so she had ended a row ahead of him. The woman in question turned to him, her blue eyes snapping and her cheeks flushed in annoyance.

"What?" She hissed to him.

"Who's the woman that looks like she is sucking on sour lemons?"

Her affronted gasp had Daigo shuddering as he tried to hold his laughter. "That woman is Captain Lisa Hayes and she will be the commander of the Allied Forces. So you need to show more respect!" That gave him pause. She was going to be their commander?

"What about the man who is talking to Barry? Isn't he the commander?"

"Admiral Gloval just came in as a show of good faith but he cannot stay! He has his own ship to run. Honestly did you even listen to the briefing?" Her voice rising in her exasperation. Suddenly the soldier next to Peachy elbowed her and shushed her. The tiny blond started and looked forward, not without a muttered "Look what you've done now."

Daigo straightened from his position. He'd had to bend quite a bit in order to talk to the girl since she barely reached 5'4" with her boots on. When he looked forward he understood what had happened. The small group that had been congregating around Barry was now looking in their direction. Since it wasn't the first time he had called attention to himself in situations like this, he continued to look forward, unconcerned.

Barry was looking quite green while the commander… Admiral Gloval, was stroking his mustache and Daigo had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to cover his laughter. The dark skinned woman was looking on impassibly while the other one, the one that was about to become their commander, was looking on with a disapproving expression in her face.

'Great' Daigo thought. 'Not even a couple of minutes here and I already managed to displease yet another authority figure. I must be getting better at it.' He thought sarcastically. For a second he had the sneaking suspicion that working with this woman was not going to be easy. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Just when he had thought things were starting to get dull… He looked straight at the woman and gave a little nod. Oh, yes, he definitely welcomed this challenge.

* * *

Lisa could not wipe the frown off her face. The day, which had started in near disaster now seemed to plummet deep into it. First it had been her confrontation with Rick, then her own recriminations at her actions had left her with a sense of disquiet. She had been so upset that she had barely paid attention to the dossiers Admiral Gloval had given her to read. 

Now she stood next to Admiral Gloval inspecting the troops she would lead and she couldn't help but feel a sliver of panic at the task. Oh, she was sure she was not showing it after all, her scowl prevented anybody to see past it into her eyes and read the panic there. It was not so much the task itself, after all, Henry in his wisdom, had been letting her take more and more of the reins of the day to day operations in the SDF-1, perhaps preparing her to something like this. No, her panic came from the state of the allies' troops. Her practiced military eyes swept over the troops and the base. She rapidly determined who actually belonged to the military unit and who was from the volunteer unit. With a sinking feeling she noticed that the majority were civilians that belonged to the volunteer unit.

With half an ear she listened to the military commander Barry Hawk as he explained how half of their military force had been wiped out when their enemies, the Madokters had taken over their city. Only Unit 18, the special forces unit had survived. From what she gathered, the special forces unit was the one that held people that had unique talents which could not be placed in other units. Reading between the lines, all the oddballs ended up Unit 18. But perhaps there was something special about them after all, they were the only ones to survive!

Lisa Hayes understood everything about special units. They might be the most talented ones, they were the ones that were sent in the most dangerous missions, the ones that had seemed like lost causes and emerged victorious. Knowing that, she also knew it held the most unruly and diverse group of people. Again, the oddballs.

"Commander Hawk." She said, taking advantage of the fact that the young man had taken a breath to interrupt him. "What happened to the other units? Why is it that only the volunteers and your unit are here?

Commander Hawk, who looked to be around Roy's age, mid-thirties and not a day more than that, turned to her, his eyes slightly sorrowful. "Victor Town is divided into 15 districts, therefore the 15 units. Victor Town was the military bastion of the area. It was our task not only to defend it but also the surrounding area. We have many military bases in other cities, for example, Los City used to hold our sole military factory. Many units were deployed to these cities in order to guard our remaining assets. Others were sent to deployed to some of the cities who were defenseless The unit under Colonel Hannonji's command are stationed on the border between Victor Town and Santore blocking the Madokter's way.

She nodded to show her understanding and wondered again what was so important about that town that the Madokter had spent so much energy into invading and why was it that it had become so important to the Zentraedi and their allies. It was a puzzle that they needed to uncover before they planned their attacks.

"Commander Hawk", Henry said, interrupting her thoughts. "Have our other allies arrived?"

"Negative Sir. I heard from the Liberty Ship and they have been delayed because of an attack. They had some serious damage as they faced an enemy unknown to them. They claim to have been overpowered by ostrich looking ships that were as tall as their smaller robots. The robots were damaged and they had to retreat. Their forces were not strong enough to battle so many numbers."

Claudia had gasped when she heard the description of the battle pods used by the Zentraedi. Lisa had narrowed her eyes while Henry pulled his cap lower on his head.

"So it's begun." He said quietly.

"Sir?" Commander Hawk asked puzzled.

"Those are Zentraedi battle pods Commander Hawk, our enemies. If they had started to target our allies it means that their plans have started to unfold." Lisa explained. Looking towards the ruins of Victor Town, she said in a low voice. "It means that they are ahead of us and we are at a disadvantage."

Silence stretched over the small group but it was suddenly disrupted by an enraged female voice. "Honestly did you even listen to the briefing?"

They all turned towards the disruption. In the midst of the troop's formation, and Lisa was using that term loosely as it was more of an organized riot, she saw a petite blond woman turned toward somebody behind her. It was hard to see from that angle who it was but it was revealed as soon as somebody nudged the woman and she jumped to attention. The person she had been talking to, or rather scolding, took his time to unfold himself to his full height and look towards them. Lisa resumed her scowl as she noticed the sardonic smile on the boyish face of the man.

'Oh, for the love of... Not another Hunter!' Her mind despaired. There was something about the young man that reminded her of Rick. Maybe it was that they were close in age or the slightly indolent posture he had assumed but something reminded her of the young pilot that used to butt heads with her. For a second she thought that her mental groan had somehow escaped her lips but she realized in an instant that it had been uttered by the young commander by her side.

"Is it too much to ask for him to behave for once?" She thought she heard him mutter.

"Commander Barry, I think it might be a good idea to break until our allies arrive. After all, we cannot meet without them. It will give us time to organize the provisions we brought. In the meantime we can meet so we can start devising a plan of action. Aside from that I think your unit might be hungry. After all we did arrive on your lunch time." Henry Gloval said with a small quirk of his lips.

The young man turned to his troop. "Listen up people! We are breaking until further notice. Proceed to the lunch room… IN AN ORDERLY FASHION." He added with emphasis on the last part as the group seemed to disintegrate as soon as he mentioned the word lunch. "Lieutenant White, please come here." He called and the blond woman that had been caught before broke away from the crowd to join them.

"Captain Hayes, please instruct our Captains to supervise the storage of our Veritechs. After that, you can join us."

"Yes Sir." Lisa said as she walked towards the rest of their crew.

Lisa was issuing orders to Rick, Roy, Max and Miriya when she felt somebody stand next to her. Thinking it was Claudia, she was surprised when she turned to see the baby blue eyes of Lieutenant White watching her apprehensively. With a nod towards the blond woman, she continued her instructions. After she was finished she turned to the woman next to her.

"Is there something you would like to inform us Lieutenant White?" Lisa asked addressing the woman by her name since she remembered Commander Hawk calling to her.

The petite woman saluted smartly and said. "Commander Hawk wanted to let you know that he will have personnel at your disposal that can help with the storage of your weapons and ships. He then asked me to take you to his office to join Admiral Gloval and him in a light lunch."

"Thanks Lieutenant." Her green eyes darkened with concern at having them work while the others were having lunch. Before she could say anything, Roy raised his hand forestalling any excuses from her.

"Don't worry Lisa, we are still in another time zone. I think we won't get hungry for a while now. The only one I am worried about is Miriya and Dana."

"I can take them to their rooms after I walk you to your destination captain." The earnest blond woman interjected at that point.

"There will be no need of walking me to my rooms Lieutenant." The commanding voice of Miriya Parino was heard. "I will be giving Dana to Jean until I am finished Captain." She said, nodding to Claudia's sister in law who had been invited to join the forces alongside Claudia's brother. "Is there somebody who will be taking them to their quarters or to the infirmary?"

Peachy looked around a small frown marring her angelic face. She brightened when she spotted a figure hurrying towards the medics.

"I believe Saori will do it." She said, pointing to the young woman that approached. "She takes care of the civilians and she organizes our infirmary."

The three men saluted the Captain and the Lieutenant. In a smooth, graceful motion, Lisa pivoted on her heel and started walking towards the main building. Her purposeful strides made quick headway to the building, making the much shorter Lieutenant almost trot to catch up with her.

As soon as the two women walked away, Max turned to look after the flight crew that were starting to unload the RDF's cargo. Rick was about to follow him when he noticed that Roy still stood in the same place, his gaze seemingly far away. On hindsight, Rick should have known better than to ask. Concerned at his mentor's stillness he asked what was wrong. Roy turned to him, a rakish smile on his face. "I was thinking, now that we are here in Mechakon camp, do you think that they'll ask the girls to wear the Mechakon uniform?"

Rick was taken aback at the strange question. Curious, Rick followed his friend's gaze to the retreating females. Before Roy's comment, Rick had actually not paid attention to the Mechakon lieutenant and much less what she was wearing. A strange sense of deja-vu invaded him (something about a Minmay and a soda machine episode came to mind) and he suddenly realized what Roy had been referring to all along.

From what he could see, the Mechakon female uniform consisted of a blue shirt, topped by a waist long pink vest. That in itself was nothing to comment on, aside from the ultra feminine color. No, that was not what Roy was referring to. It was the ultra short, very pink skirt that revealed the lieutenant's pale legs that Roy was talking about. Couple that with the knee high boots and it was a distraction in the making for the reformed playboy.

Thinking on Roy's comment, his mind conjured an image of another pair of pale legs, these longer and well formed. Suddenly perturbed by the mental image, Rick tried to mask his reaction.

"God forbid they do. They might require the men to wear theirs and I am pretty sure pink is NOT my color." Rick replied sarcastically as he remembered the sea of pink and blue in the formation that had been before them.

Roy's face lost its smirk as he blanched at the thought. Without replying, he turned to follow Max. Normally Rick would have never let his big brother live down the fact that he had gotten one over him. Instead Rick was strangely quiet, his mind invaded by the disquieting image of Lisa's shapely legs showcased by the pink little skirt and encased in those sexy boots.

1 I tried to divide the allies into different regions so it would be a little bit more believable why they had not met each other. With a lack of a better place, I made the RDF come from the US. It is somewhat based on the fact that they had a base in Alaska so I am assuming they stayed around the area when they returned from outer space.


	4. The First Battle!

MANY, MANY THANKS to my beta dwparsnip. He is the greatest! Not only does he have to go thru all the incoherencies that I write at 3 am in the morning and helps make sense of them but he always makes a point of having a great turnaround time.

Lots of thanks to 1e0nidas for the questions. Hopefully this will clear some things up.

_They are actually somewhere in Europe right now. Everything is taking place on Earth. Same as in the series (and the later Malcontent book from McKinney) there are Zentraedi in South America and in some hard to live (mostly uncivilized regions of the planet). Yes there will be some influence from outer space, but definitely all the action will take place on Earth._

_By the way, please do not hate Ryoma too much he is more for comedy than anything. The poor guy will never land a girlfriend unless she is very, very desperate so no chance on those two to be together… now there are at least 3 other new guys in the story… (wink, wink… evil laughter) I think I will leave it there. Please don't bombard me about it… yet. _

Some new characters will be coming in (trickling in more like it) during the next 2 chapters so we can get them to start mixing up.

If you guys want to see how some of the characters look like (no pic of Ryoma yet… might have to actually add that one) please go to http://adena22. to check out some of my drawings (shameless self-promotion, I know). Hopefully I will be uploading a couple more (I am missing 5 more main characters and Ryoma, I guess) so keep looking. I might also upload a couple of scenes from the story(ies) although I am having a hard time making them look exactly like they looked in the series. I am definitely no Haruhiko Mikimoto (original character designer for Macross) but I do try to imitate the master!

By the way I realized that something happened when I posted chapter one and a couple of sentences were deleted. Basically it said that the 4th series that I was using is Mazinger Z. I will have Sayaka and Aphrodite (or Diana really) in action but not Koji and Mazinger. I am going with the take that Koji went to study something or the other to become a scientist so he will be here mostly for the scientist part.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Lisa Hayes hurried down the corridor, her heels tapping a fast staccato that she knew by heart. Sometimes she could swear that she could hear that hollowed sound in her dreams. Flanking her were both her comrade-in-arms, more like her sister, and her superior, more like her father than her own ever was. She did not need to look at them to imagine the looks on their faces. She had seen too many times the hard intensity that came over their faces as they prepared for battle to even need to see it again. The only difference this time was the fact that none of them were going to participate in any battle at all. For the first time they were mere observers in somebody else's fight. Lisa did not know if this was better or worse. 

All three of them were following Saori Otaki down long corridors that led to the heart of Santore Base. They had been picked up by the blond haired woman when the alarms had blared. Now they were being dragged on to observe the battle from afar. Santore base was more than the mountain it seemed to be upon first glance. Hidden under the veneer, lay a base that had become both a refuge and a military stronghold when the inhabitants of Viktor Town, a tiny city in a small province of Europe, had been attacked and later invaded by the ruthless Madokters. What were these enemies looking for? Nobody knew, or at least nobody claimed to know. She had a feeling though that Henry and whoever had put this little group together had a pretty good idea but were keeping it tightly under wraps.

If Lisa were to presume that she knew the answer, she would say it was somewhat tied as to why the Madokters had become allies to the Zentraedi. There had to be a common link somewhere, something obvious enough that would make sense for these many diverse groups to be united. She was itching to go back to read the various reports she had barely skimmed over in order to understand the common link. If there was something Lisa disliked, it was to be left in the dark.

The abrupt stop in front of massive doors, which brought to mind Zentraedi vessels in their sheer size, brought the young Captain back to the present and to the situation at hand.

"Please follow me." Came the quiet voice of their guide, the woman that had been introduced to them a few hours before. From the way that she carried herself and the familiarity with the labyrinthine hallways, Saori Otaki was more than just the civilian coordinator. She seemed to be more than that to Santore.

The big doors opened to a similarly massive room. Three pairs of eyes swept the room appraisingly. The space seemed to be their Situation Room as it was full of computers and screens that were already showing the battle. The only two occupants in the room didn't even turn around to them, they were either being expected or they were being ignored. One of them was the tall lanky form of the soldier that had been in the formation outside. The other occupant was sitting in front of the comm. system so they couldn't see her very well. The only thing they could tell was that she had blond hair worn in a ponytail.

Saori frowned when she noticed who was there.

"Daigo! What are you still doing here?" At the woman's question, the young man turned to them, looking them over with bright blue eyes.

"Just wanted to see if they need me or not." He answered with a mischievous smile and a shrug. "Can't be taking out Gordian for just a little squabble. Gas is expensive after all."

Saori narrowed her own blue eyes at her brother in exasperation. She adored her younger brother, she truly did, but sometimes she wished somebody would take a more forceful approach with him and instill more discipline in the solitary and independent man.

"Daigo you know Gordian runs on X-Tron, not gas and you should be out there helping Barry and everyone else." She admonished.

"Barry can handle himself, besides he was the one that told me to stay around and guard Santore." He replied with a completely innocent expression that fooled no one.

"Couldn't have said so in the first place." Came the sarcastic comment from the younger blond on the comm. systems. Daigo just rolled his eyes and shrugged again, unrepentant.

Saori seemed to remember there were other people in the room at that moment as she turned to them.

"Sorry about that… I do not know if you have met my brother, Daigo." She said pointing to the young man who acknowledged them with a nod. "He is the pilot of Gordian, the robot created by my father. He never takes out Gordian unless the Madokter attack with a robot. Usually he does accompany them though." She said with a small frown directed at the young man who had, at this point, already turned to the screens ignoring them once more. "Rosette is manning the comm. system." She said pointing to the other woman who just acknowledged them by giving them all a cursory glance with her huge green eyes.

Lisa took a moment to examine the young man. His lean body was tensed for action as he leaned on his fingertips on the console table. He was poised for flight at the least minimum indication. The young Captain recognized the intensity, having seen it numerous times in the men and women under her command. Pleased with noting that he was not a lazy insubordinate but was truly following orders, she turned to his sister as she seemed more open to answering questions.

"Is there a particular reason why you wouldn't want to use Gordian? Is the X-tron that hard to get?" She asked, interested to know about this new robot.

"Well, piloting Gordian is very draining on the pilot's body…"

"Come on now sis, just because you had problems with it doesn't mean that it is exhausting." Her brother drawled without turning towards them.

"Don't talk to your sister like that!" The blond girl defended the woman who had been almost like her mother. "Just because you are not out there risking your neck like the others doesn't give you the right…"

"Do you really think that I'd much rather stay here and listen to you harp on me? I'd much rather be out there…" suddenly the alarm blared and they all turned to the screen to see a giant robot appear on the battle scene.

"Finally! Saved from the harpy. See ya'll later." He said as he rushed off.

"Daigo." His sister started to say but he cut her off.

"I know, I know I'll be careful." He said rolling his eyes at her but he still turned to give her a quick peck on her cheek before running off again.

"He's impossible." Saori murmured affectionately as she turned to the Robotech crew.

"Please approach here, I am sure you will want to see the monitors so you can follow the battle."

* * *

"Peachy, watch out!" Commander Hawk screamed as a volley of fire hurled straight at the curly haired woman. 

Barry watched as Peachy managed to twist her cycle-like vehicle out of the way before she was caught in the missile. With a sigh of relief, he turned again to watch the rest of his battalion. He was conscious of the fact that he always paid more attention to her than to the rest of the men and women under his command. Not even the fact that she had her own squadron to command lessened the protectiveness he felt for her. Maybe it was because he known her since she had just joined in, a young cadet with huge green eyes and uncertain air about her or the fact that she had been with him in countless battles. Whatever it was, he felt like an older brother watching out for her.

A flash of light made him realize he had drifted off while in the midst of battle. He didn't even take the time to curse at himself, recriminations could wait, as he turned to the battle that lay before him. As usual the Madokters had brought in their spider-like mecha for the one on one attack. As per usual, the Mechakon were retaliating with their small ground units. The ground units were little more than mobile posts for the infantry to move around. Their main armament was their rifles and they had almost no armor to defend them from the strong "legs" of the Madokter's mecha which twisted and fell on them as a club swung from a giant.

Barry had to admit that at first glance, his forces were severely at a disadvantage. They were tiny compared to the monstrous spider-like machines. Their only redeeming value was the fact that where the Madockters' were big and imposing they were also slow. This played to their strong point which was the fact that their little mobile units were fast and most of the time could scurry out of the way of the Madokter's powerful legs or avoid their firepower.

However, it did take skill to be able to fire your rifle, maneuver your hover bike and be on the lookout for the enemy. It was painfully apparent to the commander that the forces that he was taking into battle were wholly inexperienced in this. They were young, not only in age but in experience. Too many of them were volunteers, reserves that had never been needed until the surprising and completely unknown invasion of the Madokters. Viktor Town had always been a peaceful town. The Mechakon were just merely patrollers watching out for the town which barely needed watching and its surrounding towns. When he had joined, Barry had marveled at the need for the towns to have a patrol. When he found out that Ros Town's main factory manufactured weapons, he saw the need for the patrol, at least there. Victor Town appeared nothing more than the capital of the small cluster of towns. It was not until this invasion that he realized that there was something more to Victor Town, something that he imagined was not common knowledge to those that lived there. He knew that many of the secrets were held by Saori and her late father.

It was those secrets that they were not only trying to protect but were attempting to get back. It was hard to fight for something that you were ignorant about but he knew that many of the secrets would need to be revealed soon.

A collective gasp rose from his battalion and he turned to see the new threat. A impressive robot was trying to decimate half his battalion with a mighty swipe of one of its arms. Barry ordered his men to clear away from the monstrosity as they waited for Daigo and his robot Gordian to come and save them as usual.

* * *

Daigo was running to the launching dock with his mind focused only on his mission. The allies and the conversation that had happened previously all but forgotten. As he ran, his breathing deepened and his body felt leadened but at the same time he felt empowered. He felt the changes his body went thru as he neared Gordian. He had tried to make light of it but he knew his body felt different when inside Gordian. In fact he knew his body was different. He had known ever since that time when he had fallen into that substance in the middle of Victor Town. 

Of course he had not told Saori and their father had not told her either. In fact his father had not explained to him either what exactly had happened nor had he explained why he felt this way when he piloted Gordian. As always his father was keeping secrets that he had not wanted to reveal until the "appropriate time". Daigo had a feeling that the time had finally come for all secrets to be finally unveiled.

With a final burst of speed, he leaped into the open structure of Protesser, the first of the three robots that combined to create Gordian. He spun in the air until he felt the familiar pull and he lay in a T-pose inside of the robot. As soon as he was settled he was enveloped by the robotic parts enclosing him as he prepared for take off. As he was laid back on the launching pads, robot and all, he knew that the outer two pieces were already launched ahead of him. Now it was just a matter of waiting until he could reunite with them.

* * *

Down in the long strip used to house the military equipment, the Macross crew from the RDF were working feverishly to unload the various carrier planes as they tried to place their precious cargo in a safer place. It was painfully obvious that the strip was very exposed and their planes were vulnerable to an enemy attack. As soon as the alarms had blared and the military personnel had vacated the base, their efforts had doubled. 

Roy looked towards the rest of the crew as they went about their work. Rick was directing the unloading of the crates that contained the missiles for the VT's. Max was in charge of seeing to the VT's themselves as Miriya helped direct the crews that were settling them in their interim hangar. Vince, his unofficial brother-in-law, was hard to miss as he shouted directions without the need of any loudspeaker. He was glad that there had been a last minute decision to bring him along. Not only was he a dedicated and loyal soldier, one who they could count on at any time but they got the added bonus of getting Jean too. And after seeing the ground troops that these people had he was more than glad Vince and his group had come along. Strong ground forces my hairy ass! He was rolling his eyes when a big shadow caught his eye.

"What the hell is that!" Roy exclaimed loudly.

Rick wiped the sweat from his brow and turned from examining some of the crates to see where his friend was pointing. Right above them a hatch had opened and a gigantic blue robot was propelled into the air. The robot seemed familiar and it took him a few seconds to place it from the various meetings that they had been part of last week as they had been briefed on this mission. As he watched, a second robot, this one red, also took into the air right after the first one. He barely noticed that he stood his arms akimbo and his mouth slightly hanging open as watched he the display in the sky in fascination. If he could have torn his eyes away from the sight, he would have noticed his pose mimicked by the rest of the Macross crew.

The final robot was launched, this one looking, strangely enough, like a football player. The head seemed to be encased in a helmet and the torso appeared to be the inner harness under the jersey. This robot seemed to have a pilot though as it maneuvered under the red robot. The red robot opened in mid air and the last robot positioned itself until he could insert itself inside the bigger robot. Then the robot closed itself, encasing the smaller robot and going after the first and bigger one. The same operation was repeated until all three robots were one inside the other one like one those Russian dolls that Minmay was so fond of displaying in her room.

Then in a final burst of energy, the big robot sped off, liberating the paralyzed crew that had been watching the display. For a second they all looked at each other to ascertain what they had seen and then they all ran into the hangar as they tried to communicate with somebody who could tell them what was going on.

* * *

Daigo found his enemy quite easily. It was hard to miss when it was as big as a 10 story building. 

"Man they played quite a number on this robot." He said in disgusted fascination as he studied it. The towering robot looked more like a mismatch between different kinds of reptiles with a humanoid body. This robot was very different from the usual robots that the Madokters sent. It was too organic, as if a crazy genetic scientist had decided to put something together and had not had enough spare parts to create a whole. The word Frankenstein came to his mind.

He knew that this robot was not created by the Madokters. Just as he had overheard that some of the allies had been attacked by other people's enemies, he knew that this robot was somebody else's enemy too. He briefly wondered who the unfortunate bastards had been before he realized what it all meant to him.

With the Madokters, he already knew how to handle those. He knew their mode of operation. Now though he had been stuck with this genetic reject that he had no idea where to start tackling.

'Well never let it be said that Daigo is a cowardly man.' He thought as he dashed against the beast, trying to ascertain its weaknesses.

* * *

"What the heck…?" 

"Is that what we are up against?"

The rhetorical questions were murmured as the Macross crew crowded behind the only comm. system that was in the hangar. Rick looked towards his friends for a second. Even as accustomed to battles as they were, the sight was still a bit daunting. Zentraedi were after all human looking and they were always in their pods so it was easy not to even think about what was inside but this… this inhuman thing…

"Well, at least we won't have to worry where we shoot this thing." Roy said.

"The problem is how we bring it down." Max replied as he watched the battle between the powerful looking robot and the reptilian monster. They seemed to be almost evenly matched.

* * *

Daigo was beating down the genetic reject with powerful punches that made the monster back up. The reptile seemed to rally for a second and started to spew from his mouth a noxious looking substance. Disgusted, Daigo tried to evade the volley as much as possible but one still caught him a little bit on the foot. Where the substance had hit, the foot started to be eaten away as if it was being eaten by acid. 

Daigo cursed fluently as he kept evading the monster which now joined this volley of acid with his own powerful punches. Daigo made a grab at his webbed hands and head butted the unsuspecting monster, leaving it dazed. This would give him plenty of time to call up his sword and finish the thing off. 'Simple'. Daigo thought with a smirk, but it was short lived as he was suddenly pinched forward from a powerful blast that made contact with his back.

Thankfully his robot was not damaged, Daigo noted, but as he staggered to remain upright he turned to see what had happened. His blue eyes widened in shock. There, standing behind him was another robot. He turned back to the first one. The reptile was already recovering and moving threateningly towards him. Daigo backed up, away from the two robots who sprung simultaneous attacks on their victim.

Daigo took a second to study the newcomer. This one was definitely a Madokter robot. Apparently they were going with the animal theme for this battle as this robot looked like a rhino but at least it was metallic, just like all Madokters robots had been until now. The two robots decided to discharge their own venomous attacks at the same time, one the organic acid and the other a volley of laser fire.

Daigo decided it was unfair to have two against one. He was getting tired of being cornered by the two monsters, so he stopped and transformed.

* * *

"What!" Rosette was the only one who could say anything at the turn of events. Both fronts were in serious danger. On one hand, they had lost visuals of Commander Hawk's battalion after the huge rhino-like robot had appeared. They imagined that their comm. tower was decimated by the attack. 

Saori had expected Daigo to go and rescue Barry's team as he always did and had been puzzled when he stopped midway thru before getting there. The answer had been quite surprising as she realized her brother was fighting a second robot. The blonde had looked at her ward in complete shock. This had never happened before.

"The robot that Daigo is fighting looks weird Saori." Rosette commented.

"This is completely unusual, to have more than one robot… and this is not their usual robot. Madokter's are usually like the one that attacked Barry, not this one."

Lisa narrowed her eyes in thought. She looked at Henry who was clenching his teeth around the unlit pipe. He had already received a dirty look from the petit blonde in the comm. system. If there had not been so much tension, Lisa would have laughed at the whole situation. As it was, she was feverishly trying to think of strategies and dismissing them just as fast. Without knowledge of the allied forces, she couldn't really think of any strategy. She didn't know their strengths or weaknesses. That she didn't know the enemy did not matter, after all, it would be like the first time they had faced the Zentraedi that long ago day in Macross.

With that thought in mind, she paid close attention to the two combatants on the field. This method was completely different from anything she had dealt with before. Where all their battles had taken place in the sky or space, with weapons that could be fired at a distance from the enemy, the way that Daigo fought was up and close to the enemy, just like a brawl. As she studied his methods, a feeling of insufficiency started to crawl over her skin. Ruthlessly she battled it down as she concentrated on paying attention to the fight. There would be plenty of time to hyperventilate later. For now she had to remain focused.

It was the sight of the second robot coming in to attack Daigo that left them all speechless. It was obvious that he was not used to fighting more than one robot at a time. It made sense since Saori had pointed out that this was the first time they had seen two robots on the scene at any point.

At that moment, Daigo seemed to come up with a decision. He suddenly stopped and the hatch of the bigger robot opened, letting out the smaller red robot held within. The action must have confused the enemy since they stood still, affording Daigo with an opportunity to hit the reptile robot and distracting them enough so that Gordian could close again.

"Gordian can fight without Daigo in it?" Lisa asked in surprise as she saw the two robots that had previously been one attack their enemies simultaneously.

"Gordian will not have as much power as when Daigo is in it but yes, all three can fight independently."

They all watched as Daigo led the reptilian robot away from the other two, figuring apparently, that this way they would have a better chance of the enemy robots not to team up with each other.

They were now watching two different screens showing the different positions when a voice broke thru the comm. lines.

"Captain Hayes, this is Captain Hunter requesting permission to scramble." Rick Hunter's face appeared on the internal comm. channel.

Lisa looked at Admiral Gloval, whether to ask him for permission or in deference to his position it was unclear. The man just nodded in a go ahead sign. The young blond woman that was manning the comm. controls gave her a headset and indicated to the board.

The first thing she noticed was the urgency in his sky blue eyes. The other was the tension in his face. Rick was coiled tight as a spring, ready to go on the slight order.

"Captain Hunter, the Veritechs were not fueled before the flight. Aside from that we still do not have a designated runway." She commented absentmindedly. There was something nagging in the back of her head… Rick's urgent voice snapped her to the moment at hand.

"We were refueling the Veritechs right before the attack. Skull One is half way done and I am ready to go." He said in an impassioned voice. "As for a runway I could transform into Batteloid mode or Guardian mode and take off with the thrusters that way."

Lisa hesitated for a second but looking over at the other screen that showed the battle she turned to Rick and said, "Permission granted Captain." From the corner of her eye, she saw Saori Otaki relax fractionally. Lisa imagined she was glad her younger brother would get some help.

"Keep the pump going Chief!" Rick screamed at somebody off screen. "We are going to scramble." Rick turned to his CO and asked. "Coordinates Captain?" But Lisa ignored his question as she half turned to Admiral Gloval and Claudia who were just looking at her. Something in the admiral's eyes made her pause.

"Captain? What are the coordinates?" Rick asked again.

"Hold for orders Captain Hunter." Lisa said but her attention was now on Saori. "Did you say that this is the first time they have used multiple robots to attack?" The blond woman nodded, uncertain. The young Captain's face took on a hard cast. She turned back to the screen to see the expectant face of one of the best pilots under her command and she knew what she had to do.

"Captain Hunter you will scramble but not to join the battle." Rick opened his mouth to refuse but she stopped him with a look and a raised hand. "It seems that our enemy has suddenly changed tactics. Right now we have to assume they think the base is vulnerable. They did after all bring more firepower than they usually bring." Rick was looking desperate, he had also seen the hard battle their allies were fighting and he definitely did not want to waste time talking. "I know what you are thinking Rick and trust me I want to help them too but we also need to make sure that the base and all the civilians in it are safe." She pleaded with him.

Rick sighed, knowing that she was probably right. If the enemy had more mecha and they knew their only defender was busy somewhere else, what was there to stop them from attacking the defenseless base?

"All right Lisa, we'll do it your way."

"Wait! Have them refuel Max and Miriya's after yours. They can take over your post defending the base and then you will be able to help the others." Lisa added, the reflexes that had made her such an efficient First Officer finally kicking in. "Is Vince around?" Rick nodded distractedly, one eye still set on his VT. "Patch him thru. In the meantime get ready to engage."

"Aye, Captain" he said as he rapidly left the screen, bellowing the name of Vince as he went to his VT. In the meantime, various personnel from both the allied Mechakon forces and the Robotech forces scrambled around, still trying to unload everything in the imminent threat of battle.

"Claudia," Lisa turned back to address her friend. "Please try to work the communication channel so that we can get a patch with the VT's and the ground forces." Claudia nodded and turned to the blond girl that sat in the comm. console. The girl just gave her a vague suspicious look that was easily quelled when Saori looked her way.

Admiral Gloval had attempted to stay behind the scenes as he allowed Lisa to take the leading role. He knew she had the potential for being a great leader but she had allowed herself to fall under his shadow. Gloval had understood this and it had been the reason why he had fought so hard to grant her this opportunity of command. Lisa was about to turn around to the screen again when she happened to glance at the admiral. In that split second, she was warmed and heartened by the pride she saw in his eyes.

"Captain Hayes this is Commander Vince Grant." A voice on the comm. screen said and she turned her attention to it.

"Commander Grant, what is the status of the ground forces?"

"We are mostly still packed away Captain Hayes. It was decided to first take out the VT's seeing that they are bigger and needed to be refueled."

"So the ground mecha is fueled?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ok, we need to take out any mecha that is small enough to get around the VT's. Get as much personnel as you can for that." Vince nodded, already calculating which pieces to move out. "Have the ground forces form a perimeter around the carriers. They will need to protect all those that are still going to be working on unloading the carriers. You will leave any offensive moves to the VT's, either Captain Hunter or the Sterlings."

"Yes Captain."

"Now Vince please call up Roy…" Roy popped up from the side of the screen. "Oh, there you are… Roy what's the status with Rick? Is he close to take off?"

"90 percent. He'll be ready in 5 more minutes."

"Is the idea viable? Does he have enough space to take off?"

"Lisa, Rick is a big boy. He knows what he is doing. Don't let him find out you doubted him for one second." He admonished her and Lisa flushed a bit, a flashback of her starting days as a commanding officer going thru her head.

"Right. He'll skin me alive." She said with a grimace and she changed the subject. "I want you to gather the rest of the pilots, except for Max and Miriya, and have them help out in clearing the area around the carriers. We need to make sure that our forces are not damaged. See how many of the ground forces you can make way for."

"Aye Captain." He said with a wink and disappeared from the comm. channel.

Lisa turned to Claudia at the comm. controls. "How is that working?"

Claudia and Rosette turned to her, their grim expressions answer enough. Claudia just shook her head and turned to the controls. Lisa turned to Saori and saw the worry and determination battling in her pretty features.

"Saori, can you communicate with your brother?" She asked, as much as a distraction for her as a way of determining how the battle was going on the other front.

The other woman just nodded, tight lipped and she bent over the screen Lisa had been using.

"Daigo, can you hear me?" Saori's dulcet voice called.

Silence reigned for a couple of seconds as they both watched the red robot on the outdoor screen.

"Daigo?"

"Not now sis." He finally said in a tight voice.

"Mr. Otaki, I need to know your position so I might be able to help you."

"Listen lady." Came the tight voice over the speakers. "No offense but I am a little busy here." His voice strained as he tried to stop the larger robot from gaining ground. "And besides that I've done this for years without anybody's meddling so… STAY. OUT." He growled as he pushed against the other metallic monster with little success.

"Daigo!" Saori said, her tone disapproving.

"Sorry sis but I am out." And with that the speakers went dead.

Saori and Lisa looked towards the two women by the comm. controls. "That stupid idiot cut us off from his side!" Rosette growled. "We won't be able to talk to him unless he opens communication again."

Lisa breathed deeply. She was not accustomed with dealing with this type of insubordination; after all, anybody that did anything remotely similar to this knew that they were as good as kicked out of the force. Not even Hunter in all of his rebellious glory had ever done anything like this!

"Just patch me thru with the VT's. Was Rick able to take off?"

Saori opened another channel and they were able to see another angle of the small runway. Skull One was in full Guardian mode while the ground forces had already started to create the requested perimeter around the carrier planes. Milling about they could make out the smaller shapes of the pilots and the workers that were trying to secure everything that was laid out in the open.

Tense minutes passed as they observed the different screens. The battle seemed to rage on, both sides causing losses while the gigantic warriors still battled for dominance. On the base, all activity continued in a hurried but careful pace.

"We might not need the extra measures it seems." Saori Otaki whispered to Lisa as she relaxed her guard a bit.

"Really Saori, don't you know that you can jinx yourself by saying that?" Rosette admonished. "Look at your left monitor and you'll see what I'm talking about."

They all turned to the one screen they had neglected to pay attention to. It was the screen that was monitoring the fight between the reptile looking robot and Daigo's unmanned robot, Gordian. Gordian lay on the ground, one of his arms ripped off at the elbow and the other severely mangled. One of his knees was blown off and that was the reason why the robot lay on the ground although it was obvious to see that it was still trying to follow the orders given by his pilot.

Saori gasped at the screen display and her eyes filled with tears. Although she knew her brother was not inside of Gordian, the sight still pained her as she feared that one day her brother would be severely injured or worse. Her eyes opened in alarm though when she realized the direction the reptilian robot was taking. Without any force to stop him, the robot was now free but instead of coming towards Santore base as they all feared, he headed to where Daigo and the other beast monster was.

* * *

In minutes, Daigo was being overpowered by the two robots. He knew that in order to stand a chance he needed Gordian's power but he had been unable to call the bigger outer robot to him before it had been rendered useless. He looked at his indicator one more time, hoping to see something different but he just saw what he already knew. The indicator light for Gordian was extinct. He had known though, as soon as Gordian had been defeated, he had felt its loss as if it had been a part of his own body. Inside the robots, he was part of them, and the loss of one was keenly felt. Now he had to face not one but two robots with Dellinger which was much smaller and less powerful than Gordian. 

"Captain, please let me join the fight." Suddenly Rick's voice and his image broke thru the comm. channels. Lisa looked at Claudia in surprise to see her nodding, self-satisfied. "The ground forces can hold on until Max is ready to go."

"How long till Max is ready?" Lisa asked.

"No idea, you guys are the first I could communicate with. I can't even talk to Vince or any of his forces and they are right here beside me!"

Lisa blew out a breath in frustration. Her job was made even more complicated by the fact that there was no communication between any of the parties.

"Claudia, try to get a hold of Max, he should be around that comm. somewhere." Turning to her screen, "Captain Hunter I need to hold your post." From the corner of her eye, she saw Saori close her eyes as if in pain while a gasp of outrage came from Rosette. "Hold for new orders until I determine everybody else's status."

Turning to the pale older woman, she whispered soothingly. "Give me a couple of minutes Saori. Your brother is one of my men now and I won't allow him to get harmed if I can help it." She nodded, although her face remained tense. "Can you try to communicate with Commander Hawk?" Saori nodded again as she turned to the monitors.

In the meantime, Lisa walked over to Claudia and Rosette. The latter had a mulish expression on her face as her friend fiddled with the controls. The Captain had no idea if the expression was due to the fact that her post was being invaded or because of her orders.

"Any progress Clau?"

"No. I cannot get a hold of Max, he is somewhere far away from the ONLY comm. in the area and apparently everybody else is too busy to be around the comm. screen."

"There are no speakers or no other way to get their attention or talk to them?" Lisa asked in disbelief.

"Apparently not." Claudia said, sarcasm and disgust making for quite a nasty tone of her voice.

"This base was not built for the military, it was supposed to be a shelter." The young woman next to them answered back snidely. "That is the reason why we don't have the equipment you are requesting."

"How on Earth have the Mechakon been able to work then?" Lisa asked.

"Funny but they always managed." Rosette retorted spitefully.

Before Lisa could decide if she wanted to reply and put the snotty girl in her place or just ignore her, Saori's voice broke thru.

"Captain Hayes, I can't reach Barry!" the woman said, her voice breaking at the name.

A small part of Lisa's brain put that information away to analyze later while the other calculated all the odds.

"Please give me a visual of the scene." She commanded as she returned to her original post. Both their faces went grim as the camera tried to zoom into the area that had been a battle scene.

There was nothing to be seen now. Debris covered the area. Most of it was the pieces of what had been their attack vehicles. It was hard to tell if there were any bodies or any survivors. That the Madokters attack pods were moving away from the scene, still whole, did not bode well on the status of the attack force.

"Saori!" The voice made them all jump in its suddenness.

"Daigo! Are you all right?"

"Saori I need you to ask Barry for reinforcements!"

A choked sob. "Daigo we can't reach Barry…"

Daigo growled. "Where's that woman…? Where is the bossy lady?"

"My name is Captain Hayes, Mr. Otaki and I am here."

"Listen lady I don't have much time. If you and your men are going to do something useful they better do it now. I don't usually need or want help but… Agghhhh." A scream broke his tirade.

"Daigo! Daigo!" Saori said frantically.

"Do something! He better not die because of you." Rosette growled in a threatening manner.

Lisa breathed in deeply… she knew she needed somebody here at the base but the scene outside was looking grimmer than what she originally thought. "Get me Rick." She ordered, making the decision quickly.

"Captain Hayes…" Rick's voice was welcome, even if it was tense.

"Captain Hunter, I need you assist the red robot. You will need to engage in Guardian mode. Go the following coordinates…" A sudden exclamation from the pilot stopped her.

In the immediate cacophony created by the comm. system and the alarms that resumed their blaring, Lisa understood that the base was under attack as she had predicted. A grim sort of satisfaction passed by her and she had to squash it. Yes, she had been right that the enemy would attack the base but at what expense?

"Rick…"

"Lisa we are being attacked by ground forces. They are coming in from all around the surrounding mountains. I don't know if Vince will be able to hold with the forces he has… What the hell…?"

"Rick, what is it? Can we get visuals of the hangars?"

It was the same reptilian monster that had been fighting against Daigo. Lisa's blood froze as she took into consideration what that would mean.

"Rick hold your post. Daigo! Mr. Otaki, can you hear me?"

A long pause. Lisa was about to change the channel of the comm. system to get a visual of the other fight when the speakers came alive once again with cursing.

"Damned woman! Didn't I ask for help?"

"Well, at least I am grateful that your ungrateful hide is alive." She retorted dryly effectively masking her relief. The young man seemed to be more resilient than he appeared. "We are currently under attack so I need my pilots here. What is your status?"

"You're under attack?" More cursing. "Dellinger is heavily damaged. Without Gordian it's going to be near impossible to defeat this damned monster to get back there to help… Listen lady. I'll manage over here… just make sure everybody else is safe… even that annoying Barry and the shrew Peachy." The young man said, the concern in his voice belying the words.

"Stop playing the martyr and just get on with what you have to do." Came a new voice thru the comm. channels.

"Barry! You annoying gnat! I knew you would be hard to kill. You need to make my life miserable after all."

"Somebody has to do it after all. Now just do your job and go help your sister at Santore." The commander ordered. "By the way Peachy says that you better survive so she can skin you alive." Daigo groaned and cut the communication as he concentrated on his fight.

"Barry, you are alive." Saori said. She was trying to get a visual but the screen remained stubbornly black.

"We are heavily damaged… Captain Hayes what is the status at Santore?"

"We are currently fighting off the mecha that you had engaged, also there is a robot."

"Then what the heck is that lazy…"

"Daigo is fighting another robot. They decided to gang up on him but apparently his robot is weak enough now and one of them came over here." Low cursing was heard, this time even she had to raise her eyebrows in surprise. She had not heard such inventive cursing since the days when Roy Fokker flew on missions. "We are able to hold on as one of our VT's is out there but we have no one to help Mr. Otaki…"

"Orders Captain?" He asked and Lisa was speechless for a second. She had already taken command but to have it handed to her so easily by the man that was supposed to be leading this motley crew…

"I want you all to retreat. I am in fact going to call back Mr. Otaki. We are almost ready to launch another of the VT's so we will be able to defend Santore."

"Roger that Captain."

"Be careful on your way back. Be wary of any ambush attacks." She warned.

"No problem we will send our scout Ryoma ahead of us. Roger out."

Lisa did not look at anybody else in the room. She did not look for approval or confirmation. She had made a decision already and she would have to live with the consequences. Sometimes, she knew, battles were more about being able to fight another day much more than being able to win all the time. Somebody had told her that once.

She turned to call up the channel to talk to Daigo when a streak of light from one of the screens caught her attention. It seemed to have the force of a small comet and looked like a shooting star. The thing however, looked like it had a purpose and as it passed by two of the spider-like mecha in the base, it let forth a volley of energy that decimated the two.

The object however did not stop there but it flew on towards Daigo's position.

Lisa held her breath. Was this friend or foe? She did not waste any time thinking about it as she opened the comm. channel and called out to Daigo to warn him of this new development.

* * *

All of those that were fighting in Santore base stopped for a second as they felt the force of energy that was displaced by the unknown object. Allies and enemies stopped as they seemed to wait to see if the newcomer was friend or foe. After the thing decimated two of the Madokter mecha, the Macross allies seemed to rally even more and fought back even harder. At this point Max joined in the fight, letting loose a volley of energy blasts that struck the enemy with unerring accuracy. 

Now that both Rick and Max were in action, the tide started to turn on their favor. Rick, being the bolder of the two, approached the reptilian monster and let loose a shower of missiles that broke down the monster's approach. Suddenly there was a third stream of missiles that aided Rick in the attack. He looked to the source to find Miriya flanking him while Max dealt with the rest.

Between all of them, they drove down the enemy until those that where still able limped away in retreat.

* * *

"What do you mean a strange force is coming my way?" 

"That's exactly what I said Mr. Otaki. We cannot determine what it is and it goes too fast to get an actual visual…" Lisa trailed off because at this point it was useless to describe the "thing" to him. It was after all, barreling straight towards him.

Daigo watched the object in amazement. It was huge! Almost the size of a small craft and it trailed energy like a small comet. Unbidden, the image of the time when he fell into that substance in the center of Victor Town came to his mind. Everybody had described to him the fireball that had come and destroyed all of the enemy by passing near them. The only thing they had not known is that it had been him, drenched in that substance that had caused the fireball effect and had destroyed the enemy. He was still too freaked out by the whole experience to tell it to anybody.

For a second, Daigo thought that maybe one of the Madokters had gotten hold of that substance and had recreated the effect that he had done. He was ready to confront this new threat when the speeding object circled over them once and started to slow down.

Both Daigo and those that were in the Sit. Room in Santore watched with bated breath as the energy dispersed and they could finally see the silhouette of a small aircraft and the pilot who stood proudly over it.

* * *

My first cliffie! I am so proud of myself. Even if it might not have been a true cliffie (maybe because I know what happens…) but it did feel to me like it is. 

Hope you guys liked it…. It was really hard to write since I think I am much better at writing dialogue and emotional stuff than battle descriptions. I do have to get used to it though because this story will have quite a bit of action to it. Not too much though but sometimes it will be needed for the story.

Pleeeeeeeeease let me know what you think of everything. Did you like it? Should I write more battle scenes or you guys do not want to see them?

I promise next chapter will have more character interaction. We will see who this new character is and what were the reactions of everybody to this attack. Also two of the other allies come in (I think) and Rick starts seeing Lisa in a new light. This will be the beginning of a series of eye openers for Rick. Lisa will have to take command and she will not be happy when she finds out who one of the allies is!

Please let me know what you think! (did I say that already? Well, it is that important to me) Thanks as always for reading.


	5. Settling In

A/N: I am very sorry guys, I truly had this chapter thought out for the longest time and in fact most of it was typed by November of last year. The only problem was, as always, there was something missing in it and I had the hardest time to finish it. I wanted to start a shift of attitude between Rick and Lisa but it was just not happening! At last though I finally got it even if it was not exactly what I had planned. Rick apparently has a mind of his own and the last scene just happened. Hope you guys enjoy it.

I am not going to say that the next chapter will come soon because that's what I thought about this one. I do have the first pages of it typed and the dialogue has played in my head a couple of times so let's see how fast I can get that one to go.

As far as _Spacefold Away_ goes, I must admit that if I had a hard time with this one, _Spacefold_ has been even worse. The story became overcomplicated and I am going over some plans to tame it down to something similar to what the original was intended to be and not the monster I have unleashed. I must say though that I have the final chapters already typed or written down I just need to get the story to head to that direction so I can finally finish it. Again my excuses for not updating _Spacefold_ (and _Battle for Earth_, for that matter) sooner.

On another note, please visit my DeviantArt page as I uploaded a piece inspired in how I picture Rick and Lisa's family life to be. FF(dot) net is being an idiot and is not letting me put the link here so you might want to visit my profile for the deviant address and then search my gallery for a piece called "Family Outing".

Many thanks to my beta dwparsnip who as always has invaluable input and to sinfulwolf who also had her two cents to put in.

Without further ado….

* * *

_Chapter 5 – Settling In _

As it was, none of them were able to find out who the mystery pilot was. Oh, he was definitely on their side, after all, he did single handedly defeat the rhino robot. But just as quick as he had come, he left, leaving behind a heavily damaged Dellinger and a semi-conscious Daigo. By the time Rick and the Sterlings could leave the base, the only thing left for them to do was to carry the two damaged robots back to the base.

Rick and Miriya had been able to slay the monster after they combined their attacks. It had been a sobering experience for both of them since they were used to robotic enemies and not demi-giants that were harder to kill than cockroaches after a nuclear blast.

Even Lisa was not able to solve her own mysteries as she ended up helping everywhere around the base. As it turned out, the Mechakon base had no defined emergency corps but rather all of them tended to pitch in, taking care of their injured in their very modern facilities. That was a definite plus of Santore base; even if they were not properly staffed they had state of the art technology.

So that was how Lisa found herself sitting in a chair next to a sleeping Daigo Otaki as she popped in to make sure he was alright. She had already talked to Jean Grant and had been told that the young man was doing fine and was not the worse for wear after the intense battle. For a second a sense of deja-vu enveloped her. She saw herself next to another young man waiting for him to wake up. Thankfully this time there was none of the guilt that had accompanied that other visit. Also absent was the crippling feeling that had constricted her chest as she worried if the man she had fallen in love would make it.

She was so deep in thought that she had not realized that clear blue eyes were watching her until a sleep roughened voice brought her down to reality.

"Well I didn't know that I was so important to have the new boss-lady checking up on me."

Lisa blinked rapidly as her eyes turned to the bed to see an amused smile on the man's face. She rapidly stood up to cover her discomfiture. By the time she had approached the bed she had her professional mask on.

"Good to see you're finally awake Mr. Otaki.", she told him in her husky voice.

Daigo did not like the feeling of having the woman looming over him so he struggled to sit up. He was waging a silent battle with his weakened arms when he felt gentle, yet supporting, arms helping him to sit up.

"Thanks." He told her after they got him propped up in a semi-sitting position. Looking at her from his new vantage point, he realized that for some reason he did not feel that he had to act strong next to this woman. It was as if she understood human frailty or just had been thru this too many times. He noticed though how her eyes swept over his chest and rapidly looked away. He didn't know if she was embarrassed by his semi-clothed state or if she didn't want to seem like she was ogling him. Not that there was much to see since half of his chest was bandaged.

Lisa would never consider herself to be a prude but she still avoided looking at the man's bare chest. She was glad then when he raised the bed sheet and he was covered again.

"Thanks for looking after me boss-lady." He said insolently, effectively distracting them from the awkward moment.

"You know my name is Captain Hayes." She informed him in a crisp voice.

He could see that his new boss-lady was as uptight as his own commander Barry. Daigo smirked good-naturally as he realized he was going to have a lot of fun yanking her chain. Trying to see how much he could get away with, he asked innocently: "Is Captain your actual name? Quite unusual."

Jade green eyes narrowed as the captain looked at him. "Very amusing, Mr.Otaki". No my name is not Captain, but I will not give you the satisfaction of getting a rise from me nor giving you my full name." She smoothed her hands over the starched uniform jacket as if to iron away non-existent wrinkles. "Seeing as you are awake and in no danger I think it is time for me to leave. I will call your sister so that she can fill you in on everything."

Soon after the words were out of her mouth, she turned on her heel and walked towards the door. She was almost out of the room when he asked, "Did everybody make it? Are Barry and the battalion safe?" He asked softly as if the previous conversation had not happened.

Lisa gazed towards the bed. She eyed the man's face for a couple of seconds and noted his serious expression. Still holding on to the door handle, she half turned and told him, "There were a few losses but none of them included the Commander or the Lieutenant. Now if you would excuse me…" She said with a final nod and was about to walk out of the room when somebody else came in. Lisa stopped short as she looked on in horrified fascination the outfit the newcomer was wearing. Most of the Mechakon were a weird bunch but this one took the cake.

As her eyes traveled down his body, Ryoma preened under the attention, puffing out his chest and making the top of his kendo outfit to open further revealing a very furry chest. Lisa's eyes widened and with a little panicky noise she scuttled around him and left the room with barely an acknowledgement to the newcomer.

Daigo stared after the woman's hasty departure and then looked at a very satisfied Ryoma who swaggered in as if he had received a compliment. Daigo, who had gotten a much better look of the panicked expression on the boss lady's face, knew that it was completely the opposite.

"Did you see that? She couldn't take her eyes off me." Ryoma said, waggling his eyebrows and it was all that Daigo could do not to explode in laughter right then and there.

In order for him to keep a straight face and not offend his friend completely, he asked Ryoma to fill him in all that had happened. As Ryoma's voice washed over him, he remembered the wounded look the woman had held when he woke up and briefly wondered who or what had caused it.

* * *

"The attack was a complete disaster! You really think those pathetic monsters could defeat the Earth forces?" Khyon's booming voice lashed at the other generals in the room. 

"Are you implying that our Lord made a mistake in his orders?" bellowed the imperious reply of the Madokter General Saxodar. At his words, the Madocter generals moved behind him to show their solidarity.

"What am saying is your Lord probably has not looked recently through his little catalogue of monsters so they might not be… up to standards." He said scornfully, a little smirk on his lips.

"How dare you talk of the Book of Apocalypse like that!" the man yelped, his thin fingers clutching the ancient tome that contained the secrets to all of Lord Dokuma's orders. "This book had been used by the Madokters for over a millennia to defeat those pathetic humans and many of the usurpers that had tried to take our sacred place." His voice rose in volume and pitch, making his long pointy moustache vibrating with his outrage.

"You can tell it has been used for over a millennia, the robots are completely outdated." Came the sarcastic comment of one of the Izzari generals, a robotic android that looked like he belonged in a retro show. At Khyron's guffaw, he turned to him and said, "I wouldn't laugh if I were you Zentraedi. After all didn't your general come to us because you cannot even repair, much less update your armada?" The robotic voice still managed to infuse enough sarcasm to make it insulting.

"Why you…" Khyron's angry red face clashed horribly with his purple hair as he clenched his fists and moved towards the android.

"Silence!" The recently arrived leader of the Zentraedi, Dolza, ordered in a voice which resonated like thunder and shook the floors like a mini-earthquake. The effect was instantaneous and all of them backed off.

Behind Dolza, the slightly smaller shape of the commander of the Izzari walked in. His beady black eyes set on unnatural yellow eyeballs looked at the mingled force with contempt.

"No more fighting among the ranks. We had already established this beforehand. If we are divided then we will not be able to defeat our enemies. Anybody else who dares disobey will find themselves taking part in the next suicide mission."

Like unruly children being chided, the generals and commanders of the Izzari, Madokter and Zentraedi forces lowered their eyes in respect. Some knew by experience and others by reputation the tempers of all their leaders and they recognized this was not an idle threat.

"Now what has brought on this unsightly display?" The leader of the Izzari asked.

"This one was claiming that our Lord Dokuma has made a mistake in the monsters he ordered to attack the humans." General Saxodar accused the purple haired Zentraedi.

"Is that so?" Commander Brain, leader of the Izzari, asked. "What did you use to measure the lack of success?" The man's gigantic brain pulsed as if irritated.

"We were obviously defeated Commander." Khyron answered. Commander Brain and Dolza looked at each other, their smiles as enigmatic as sphinxes.

"Rest assured Khyron, we were quite successful in what we had planned to do." Dolza said. "After all, we were not interested in defeating them at this point but we wanted to see what weapons the humans had. Besides, we cannot defeat an enemy that we know nothing about."

"My lord you mean…?"

"Yes, it was a reconnaissance strike. Used to gather intelligence, no more." Brain said dismissively. "That we managed to damage the robot Gordian and stir up their defenses was just an added bonus."

Khyron's eyes glittered in malicious glee at his enemies' turmoil; he was after all used to using scare tactics on his enemies and his men too.

"Now I do not want a repeat performance of this day. We have much to do if we plan to achieve our goals." Dolza said and the men bowed at his proclamation while Commander Brain nodded his assent at his words.

* * *

"What do you mean he is a FEDERAL CRIMINAL?" Lisa screeched unbecomingly at Henry Gloval as she branded about the file she had just read. 

"Now Lisa…" Admiral Henry Gloval tried to placate the irate woman. It appeared that lack of sleep coupled with stress did nothing to mellow the woman. On the contrary she turned into a fishwife. The fact that they had spent the last couple of hours reading the dossiers of their allies had only served to exacerbate the problem. In fact after five hours of reviewing the files, they were still in the impromptu Situation Room and the piles of folders and notes around them never seemed to go down.

"Please Henry do not Lisa me. Tell me the truth. Is he or is he not a federal criminal?"

"Technically he is." Gloval started and Lisa made an exasperated sound. "Please allow me to finish. Do you really think I would allow a dangerous criminal to aid us? He just had a bit of a wild side on him. It has been rectified and now he will be a powerful ally to us."

"The man is dangerous." She reiterated. "He is a cyborg, a man with robotic parts which will make him nearly invincible. How can he be controlled?"

"Professor Sandra assured me that he has been… tamed." Henry winced at his choice of words. God he made it sound as if the poor fellow was a wild animal. "He has been on a peaceful mission for almost a year. Obviously he is trustworthy if he has been tasked to take care of the savior of the galaxy."

"Henry, barring the fact that I am not that convinced about the role this so-called princess plays in the peace of our whole galaxy, the facts are facts. The man stole a dangerous weapon who nobody else but him can yield and then terrorized the whole base where he used to work. That was how he repaid his post, by stealing a classified item and destroying half of the battalion that came to contain him. In fact if it hadn't been for this professor Sandra that you keep mentioning, who knows what he might have done?"

"He spent ten years in isolation. I think that will make a man rethink his priorities and will serve to tame his wildness."

"Or it will make him crazier." Lisa stated her point with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"He was a young man, now he is older and he has proven that he is dependable. I must insist on this. I know it is your team but I really feel this man will be an asset to us." He said, his voice measured and his visage stern, like a parent who wants to make their child understand an important point. "Lisa, I respect your concerns, I am not trying to disregard them. I trust that you will be a great leader and that you will make the right decisions. Can you at least meet him and the scientists in his team before you make a final decision?" He appealed to her.

Lisa looked at the man that she had trusted in battle for more than five years. As a friend and his First Officer she had always trusted him and his decisions. That he was allowing her to debate one of his decisions was proof enough of how highly he thought of her and her skills as a leader. He was treating her as an equal and not a subordinate. That confidence in her had to be reciprocated.

"Alright Henry" She coincided. "Sorry about the whole outburst I do respect your decisions…" she said in a weary tone, her body almost bowed under the stress and tiredness.

"Lisa, you are a bright tactician and an able leader. I would be disappointed if you didn't question me and my decisions made about your team." He said, his voice calm but still authoritative. "Now tell me what is really bothering you." Lisa looked at him in surprise.

"Can't fool you now can I?" She said with an amused snort. She sat down heavily, regarding her mentor from lowered lashes. "What really worries me is the state of this motley group. You saw the battle! There is no coordination, no communication and the men are not even trained soldiers! Their only line of defense is one man with a robot, a rather powerful robot from the descriptions, but one man nonetheless. Then we have a federal criminal which, for all that he is 'tamed', might still be dangerous. What else? Another robot fighter piloted by a female… at least I know she will listen, then two more pilots. It says in the dossier that this guy, Takeru, has problems with taking orders… just as Daigo Otaki seems to… This is a disaster in the making. The whole mission is doomed to be a failure right from the start…" The low, tired voice had risen by the end as she ranted at the state of her crew.

"Lisa I have the utmost faith in you." Henry said, quieting the young woman. He realized that it was a big task. He understood. Hell, he could still remember when he was assigned to the SDF-1 and that had not even been his first solo mission as a leader. Knowing the amount of people that depended on his leadership and the importance of it… was rather nerve wracking.

Lisa stopped her tirade and looked at Henry in the eyes. She saw his understanding there and it somehow made her fears ease. With a sigh she sat back down to finish reading the information supplied in the hopes that some of her questions might be answered but instead it managed to raise even more questions and disquieting answers.

* * *

A couple of hectic days passed while Santore's base and all those in it recovered from the attack. As Mechakon recovered, the Robotech forces took the time to finish unloading and getting acclimated with the base and its inhabitants. They also had to take the time to settle themselves in the barracks. While the lieutenants and cadets were rooming in the barracks, most of the captains were lodged in their own individual rooms. The quarters were designed similar to dorm rooms in the sense that they were all united by a common sitting room area that included a small kitchenette/bar area. 

The rooms themselves were not fancy or big but had the appearance of a small studio. Most importantly, they were private and included the accommodation of having a small kitchen as well as a bathroom and a tiny sitting area that doubled as a dining room. The bedchamber was in the same open area and in the case of the women's it was half hidden by a screen to ensure their privacy. Even though it was definitely smaller than what they had been used to in Macross, the Robotech crew took it all on stride and made it a home as much as they could. After all, they planned on being there as long as it was necessary to complete their mission and from what it seemed, it might take quite a while to accomplish.

Rick opened the door to his darkened quarters in bone weary silence and with a sigh, took care of his nightly ablutions. Stretching out on the comfortable bed, Rick considered the oppressing silence. In the flurry of activity of settling in, most of them had not seen each other except in passing. To make it even harder, Rick was in a completely different sector from Roy and Max as they had been given the more spacious family quarters. For the Sterlings the reson was obvious as the whole family was there. Roy was afforded the bigger quarters as he was rooming with Claudia and was therefore also considered family. To be truthful he was even separated from Lang and Exedore who were not staying in the military dormitories but in the civilian ones. Rick knew that the rooms connected to his by the common area were still available and he wondered if they were being held for the others allies that had not arrived yet. In a moment of childish pique at being distanced from everybody else, Rick wondered if he would be able to get along with his next door 'neighbors'. Recognizing the sentiment for what it was, he snorted softly and lay down in bed. He really was tired of not having anybody to talk to, except for the crew that he had been ordering about during the day, and he found himself wondering when his neighbors would arrive. With a mental note, he decided to ask Lisa the following day. She was after all the most appropriate person to ask, being their CO. His last thought as he fell asleep was that he would be glad to talk to her. Hell, he could even admit that he had even missed talking to the impossible woman!

On the other side of the barracks, in the women's quarters, Lisa Hayes was having similar thoughts to those of the young captain. She walked into her darkened rooms, sighing as she turned on the lights in the dimmest setting possible. If it had been her quarters back in Macross she would not have bothered with the lights, being so used to the layout. As this one was completely unfamiliar for her, she was not about to attempt to get through her nighttime ablutions without some sort of illumination, no matter how tempted she was.

It had been one of those days and the throbbing in her skull reminded her of the fact that her tired body could not take it anymore. Squinting helped a bit, so she got through her nightly rituals as fast as she dared. As she let her satin nightgown slide deliciously down her body, she allowed herself a soft sigh at the slight pleasure. She snorted delicately as she wondered what her friends Claudia and Miriya would think if they knew her little decadent secret. They probably thought that she slept in an old maid's nightgown all bundled up from neck to toes. She could almost hear their teasing… Gods how she missed them! She had barely seen Claudia as she came in and out of the many meetings that they were both involved with. She knew that both of them had quite a lot of organizing and researching to do before their work even started but it was hard. She missed the way that no matter how hard a task or how boring, her sister in arms would always turn to her and make a funny face just to put a smile into her frowning face. In these few days there had been too much frowning and not that much smiling. Lisa idly wondered if there were any new frown lines on her forehead and she made a mental note to check upon it next morning. She was too tired and too cranky right now to do it.

As she curled herself into her favorite position in bed, she allowed herself a single tear to fall. She normally did not indulge in self-pity but tonight her headache, the stress of the day and her loneliness conspired together to put her in that mood. She longed to be held close and in that moment she missed her dead mother and her dead fiancé; she missed her friend who was living with her boyfriend but most of all, she missed her dream of being held by Rick Hunter.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and way too early for Rick as he hurried along to the airstrip for the meeting he was supposed to attend. Even in the early hours it had started to get unbearably hot. It was the middle of June and the desert landscape had no reprieve from the relentless summer heat. Not even the huge mountain that was Santore afforded enough shelter from the newly risen sun. 

The combination of the early hour and the heat wave were conspiring to put the normally affable man in a terrible mood. With barely enough caffeine in his system he grumpily approached the group that was waiting around the hangar. A quick glance showed that Vince was already there, talking to Claudia and a woman he did not recognize, or at least he couldn't tell if he knew her as she had her back towards him. The only thing he could see was that she had long brown hair pulled in a ponytail which reached to the middle of her back. Dismissing her as somebody from Mechakon base, he looked around to see the rest of the people he had to meet. He easily recognized Roy, Max and Miriya huddled together talking to each other. Rick frowned as he realized that the person he wanted to approach was not there yet. He had wanted to talk to her a bit before everybody got there. Resigned, he resolved to corner Lisa after the meeting was over.

With a couple of long strides he approached his friends. Another gust of dry hot air blew right at him. In that instant he was glad of the unspoken decision of foregoing their standard RDF uniforms. In merely two days of being there, they all had realized that the uniforms would be too stuffy for the warm climate. Only pilots, when they were in some sort of duty, wore their uniforms; everybody else had given up the fight and had dressed in cooler comfortable clothing. So at this moment Roy was wearing worn camouflage pants, a sleeveless undershirt and army boots. Max was dressed similarly in cotton baggy pants and a short sleeve shirt. Miriya, like the other two women, was wearing an outfit that resembled Roy's, tight sleeveless undershirts, baggy pants and short army boots.

As Rick approached the group, his gaze could not help but stray to the unknown woman. She had not moved from her position so he still had no clear look of her face. As she still had her back to him, he could only content himself with studying the shape of her well toned arms of palest cream, her tiny looking waist and a well shaped derriere that was clearly outlined by the worn material of the pants she wore.

A flicker in the corner of his eye caught his notice and he realized that he had been caught staring… by none other than Claudia Grant herself! The dark skinned woman just gave him a knowing smirk as she turned her attention to her companions. Mortified beyond belief, he turned to the others, pretending nothing had happened. However his mind was screaming at him, wondering what in heaven's name he had been thinking! He was not the kind of person to ogle women. That was strictly his big brother's department. There was something about the woman though… something that made her intriguing. He was suddenly assaulted by guilt since the only woman that had attracted him for the longest time had been Minmay. After the pretty singer had captured his heart he had not looked at any other woman after that… sort of. He thought, ignoring the little devil that kept reminding him about a certain green eyed woman.

"Finally!" Roy told him as he reached them. "Now that we are all here we can get on with this so we can go back to the a/c."

Rick frowned in confusion. Didn't he realize Lisa was not there? What about Admiral Gloval? Didn't they have to wait for them too? He told his big brother as much.

His friends started snickering at his comment. "What's so funny?" He asked crossly.

Before he could get a response from any of them, a familiar voice answered his earlier questions. "The Admiral will not be joining us Captain Hunter but I most certainly will." Lisa's crisp tone announced. Turning to the sound of the voice, Rick's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he realized where the voice of his CO had come from. It had not been a matter of simply overlooking Lisa but merely not recognizing her. 'Good Heavens above! Lisa Hayes was the woman with the ponytail!' He thought in horror as he realized who exactly he had been checking out earlier.

The snickers increased as Rick did his best imitation of a gaping fish.

* * *

'God it's hot!' Lisa thought as she stood in the desert heat, talking to Claudia and Vince Grant. For the first time she was glad she had been talked into wearing something other than the regulation uniform. Even though part of her uniform was a skirt, the thought of the jacket and its undershirt made her skin prickle uncomfortably in the unbearable heat. They had called the meeting early in the morning in order to avoid the worst of the heat and if this was it, she was staying inside for the reminder of the day. She was in no mood to get burned into a crisp. No wonder the women of Mechakon wore that kind of uniform. She would be in a mini skirt too to avoid this heat. 

The meeting was necessary though. Even though her head was pounding from the heat and lack of sleep, she concentrated on Vince's preliminary report concerning the state of the hangars. The whole group was meeting to determine the ideal locale to store the mecha and start the analysis of what was needed in order to operate efficiently. After this preliminary analysis was completed, the scientific group, which was still incomplete, would devise the necessary equipment for launching the various mecha of the allies.

So concentrated was she on Vince's words, that she almost missed the by-play behind her when Rick arrived. In fact, it was Claudia's little smug face as she looked between her and whoever was behind her that made her actually start to pay attention to the conversation going on behind her. Thankfully Lisa was already a pro at masking her reaction to Rick's presence so she was sure she had not given herself away. A quick look at Claudia's face just to confirm… nope, everything was fine. Well, she was not called the Ice Queen for nothing!

The snickering caught her by surprise. So used was she to thinking how people laughed behind her back for her unfortunate obsession with the black-haired pilot, that she didn't realize right away that it was not at her they were laughing but at him. Then the questions finally registered and hot anger flashed through her veins. 'Was she so insignificant to him that he didn't even realize she was there?' she thought as her hands tightened around the clipboard. 'Well two could play that game!' with that last thought, she turned around to face Rick and with a voice that could chill molten lava, she decided to set him straight.

"The Admiral will not be joining us Captain Hunter but I most certainly will." She told him and had to reign in her temper even more when he acted as if he had not even seen her before. She gave a little huff. Who did he think was there talking to Vince anyway?

As soon as the storm clouds of Lisa's temper started to build up, they were dissipated by the arrival of the Mechakon group that would be escorting them around. Seeing them, some of the personnel from the launching docks also approached as their input working with the VT's for over a decade was invaluable. With all the arrivals, Lisa managed quite effectively to switch to her cool detached persona that was her professional role.

* * *

It was midday and they were still going on about it. The facilities were extensive and the differences in the mechas were too many. At times it seemed as they were even speaking a different language as the civilians were not used to the talk of mechas and their needs. Finally there was a breakthrough when Saori, who knew the base better than anybody, proposed an area near the tip of the base that was big enough to house the Veritechs. It was then settled that they would all get plans of that area and the scientists would devise a way for the Veritechs to take off in a speedy manner. 

Lisa was glad that the talk was finally winding down as the heat was rising to unbearable proportions. Aside from that she had very fair skin and she knew that she could be in real danger of looking like a boiled lobster if she did not go inside soon. She was at the point of hardly disguising the fact that the heat was bothering her and she was using her notepad to fan herself.

Rick was mesmerized by the swishing movement of Lisa's notepad as it went back and forth. The displaced air was making some of the wisps of her hair to move and he followed their crazy dance with his gaze. He imagined that the heat had fried part of his brain since he couldn't stop looking at his CO. A tickle of sweat made a trail down the rosy cheeks pinked by the sun making its meandering way down to her throat, then her collarbone before it made its way down her sternum… Rick swallowed hard. 'Snap out of it!' Rick thought to himself as he rapidly snapped his eyes back to her face to realize that Lisa was looking at him with a fierce glare. His eyes opened wide in horror as he wondered if she had noticed him looking at her… well, at her breasts. God, he was turning into a pervert, he thought with an internal groan.

'Could this go on any longer?' Lisa thought exasperatedly. At this point there was nothing that they could do. The examination of the facilities was complete and without the rest of the scientific team there was nothing that could be done so if Dr. Lang could just shut up for a second, she might just propose that the meeting was over… A subtle movement caught her eye and she turned her eyes towards Rick. She had been avoiding looking at him until now because the only way she would forget about Rick Hunter would be if she just treated him as another soldier. It had been a painful realization she had come to bear at the wee hours of the morning and she had almost blown her resolution when she had heard his stupid comments… She was letting him get to her too much. She had decided only something drastic, like ignoring him except for official business, was going to be the only way to get him from under her skin. It would be like quickly ripping off a band-aid, turning a new leaf, starting a new chapter all that rot that is said_… _What the hell is he doing! Lisa thought all of her resolutions going scattering as she noticed his glazed eyes and slightly dazed expression. Did he fall asleep with his eyes open? And what was he looking at her like that for? Lisa gave him her best glare indicating her displeasure at his lack of professionalism. She saw him start and flush deep red while he rapidly avoided her eyes and he looked towards the others who had not noticed the subtle by-play.

Rick was about to melt into a puddle of embarrassment right there. Lisa had caught him looking at her and she was obviously displeased about the whole fact. Man, she was going to kill him. Not that he blamed her. He could still feel her eyes on him and he was trying really hard not to feel five inches tall. Gods, wasn't she one of the girls that had called him a pervert that one time with the toothpaste debacle? Now he would never hear the end of it. He thought with another mental groan. He was so mortified that he did not even notice the approach of Lieutenant White until the silence left by her announcement penetrated his brain.

"Pardon the interruption. I was told by Admiral Gloval to announce the fact that our other allies are on their way and they will be arriving at 1400 hours. He requests your presence, Captain Hayes."

"Thanks Lieutenant. I believe we shall call this meeting over." Lisa said.

"I believe it is a great idea. I feared for some of you as you are not accustomed to the sun. In fact, Captain Hunter seems to be suffering heatstroke, his face is all red." Saori said sounding concerned.

That is how Rick found himself the object of attention of ten pair of eyes as they all turned towards him, which of course caused him to blush even harder.

"Come on little brother; let's get your sensitive skin out of the sun before you broil. After all you do not want to meet our allies while sporting second degree burns?" Roy teased him as he took him by the arm and led him away.

Rick allowed himself to be led but his eyes followed the brisk walk of his commander as she met the Admiral's request to see him. As he watched her rapidly disappear, he had to tell himself that the sinking feeling was due to his embarrassment and not to the fact he was disappointed he did not need to talk to her any more.


	6. Helpful Allies?

_Quick Summary (since it has been quite a while):_

_Dolza__ formed an alliance with other alien races that are trying to take over the world. The three main groups are: Zentraedi/__Meltrandi__ that want to recover the SDF1 and the secret of the Flower of Life; the __Izzari__ who need a place to live so they want Earth to be their new home__; the__ third group are the __Madokters__ who want to find/exploit the secret of a strange material that can be found in a__n__ European town (it's in Europe for the purpose of the story) called Victor Town. _

_The __Macross__ forces were approached by the defenders of the Earth from these enemies and formed an alliance with them. Aside from t__h__at there are others who will be joining in for their scientific expertise (which will become important next chapter). The allies have only 2 military groups which are RDF and __Mechakon__. The other allies are smaller groups whose power is on the robots they pilot. The cast is:_

_**Rick Hunter**__Macross__**Jan **__**Kogo**__ – __cyborg__,think__bionicman__Starzinger_

_**Lisa Hayes**__Macross__**Princess Aurora**__Starzinger_

_**Claudia Grant**Macross**Daigo****Otaki** – pilot of GordianGordian_

_**Roy Fokker**Macross**Peachy White**–commander of Mechakon "_

_**Max Sterling**Macross**Koji Cabuto** – pilot of Mazinger ZMazinger Z_

_**Miriya Sterling**Macross**Sayaka****Yumi** – pilot of AphroditeMazinger Z_

_**Vince Grant (minor)**Macross**Takeru****Hoyo** – pilot of PlyzerGakeen_

_**Jean Grant (minor)**Macross**Mai Kazuki** – pilot of MightyGakeen_

_From Gordian these are the minor characters:_

_**Commander Barry** (leader of Division 13), **Saori****Otaki**Daigo's Sister), **Ryoma**(samurai spy that has a fascination with women) and **Rosette** (an orphan that was raised by Saori and now helps in the comm. Station.)_

_From Macross_

_**Dr. Lang** and **Exedore****Henry Gloval**Brief appearance of **Breetai** and the rest of the cast._

_The Macross forces have moved to Santore which is a fortress outside of Victor Town which now houses the refugees from Victor Town, both civilians and military. There are many voluntary militia working with Mechakon which makes them an untrained group (although Division 13 which is the one Daigo and Peachy belong to areknown as a misfit unitDolza and the others are right now in Victor Town helping the Madokters as it will benefit them all (this will be explained soon)._

_Hopefully that covers the story until this point. There will be more explanations coming soon (as part of the story)._

_Aside from that please visit my profile so you can link to my deviantArt account. Ff (dot) net is a bit picky about putting links on the story itself so if you want to see pics of the characters in the story, that's the way to go. I have updated with two characters that WILL appear in the story later on and a Lisa and Rick drawing that will be based on the ending chapter of the story. There is also a drawing depicting the end of this scene._

_Big thanks go to my beta dwparsnip_

_Without further ado here's…_

_

* * *

_

Chapter 6 – Helpful Allies?

It had been a very long week since the Macross forces had landed at Santore base. During that week they had been attacked by the enemy, had two of their robots heavily damaged and had gotten a bitter taste of what was to come. Santore had now become their haven, the same way it had become the shelter of all those that had escaped the recently captured Victor Town. Santore was like the SDF-1, a military base that, in times of crisis, had welcomed those refugees that had their lives uprooted by a ruthless enemy which cared nothing but for their own agenda.

Lisa Hayes walked briskly towards the doors that lead to the inside of the base. At first glance, Santore seemed to be a normal mountain with a small military camp at its base. The reality of Santore was much more than that. Inside the mountain, which was just a clever disguise for the sentient base, lay an intricate maze of hallways that lead to an underground compound. The compound was divided into civilian housing and military barracks. Unlike the SDF-1, the facilities were lacking something… something that the resilient Macross inhabitants had given to the alien ship. Santore had been created specifically for a situation like this by the scientific genius of the late Dr. Chiotaro Otaki and although it was still the height of technology, it had the charm of a ghost town. The current residents of Santore seemed to feel that they would not stay there long and therefore took no care in making it a livable space. They were resigned to their status quo and the defeatist attitude permeated the base. This feeling creeped Lisa out every time she thought about it. There was also something nagging at the back of her head, a feeling that there was more to Santore than what their current residents knew. Or maybe they themselves were ignorant of the secret that seemed to permeate the base.

Thus there was another mystery for her to solve, another piece on the puzzle that this mission was fast becoming.

* * *

Takeru Hoyo was leaning against the wall, his pale, pointy face marred with a bored expression. Inside though, he was truly disgusted with the proceedings around him. He had been roped yet again into another one of these "missions" for the greater good that he did not care about. Why the hell did he always give in? At this point he could be practicing for the upcoming karate championship… 'Oh, what's the use?' Takeru thought with disgust. He knew that as much as he had tried to keep in shape, the last year of running around destroying invading aliens had also destroyed his chances of ever beating his father's title. That did not mean however, that he was going to enjoy all this "bonding" and "team-working" that his comrades forced on him all the time. That thought reminded him of his chief tormentor in that department and he looked for the cheerful she-devil he had to work with.

Mai Kazuki was the daughter of his parent's old friend, Dr. Kazuki, the only person for whom he would consider doing a favor. That consideration though, did not extend itself to his insufferably bossy daughter. So distracted was he in looking for the red-clad woman that he did not notice the man who was walking towards him.

"Hello" said the man who was slightly older than Takeru. His hand was outstretched in a greeting and his face was open and friendly. Takeru looked at him warily. Usually he tried to blend in, to not attract any attention managing most of the time to get overlooked. Either that or his rather rude attitude usually pushed people away. This man though was smiling at him as if he knew him. "I am sure I have seen you before. You are Takeru Hoyo right? The middle weight karate champion? I am a huge fan of yours." He said with a sincere smile that reached his dark chocolate-brown eyes.

Takeru kept looking at him, his dark amber eyes distrustful, his lips turned down in a petulant scowl. The man's smile wavered and his arm lowered a bit as his friendly actions were still rebuffed.

Slightly behind some of the huge cargo boxes that contained their robots, Mai Kazuki watched the exchange with exasperation. She knew that if she left it to Takeru, he would alienate the whole group of allies with his arrogant and patronizing attitude. Besides that, the dark-haired young man who was trying to be friendly with Takeru looked rather familiar… and rather cute too! She decided to approach the two men. As she was nearing them, she heard the dark haired man say, "My name is Koji Cabuto."

Before Takeru had a chance to reply, most likely with some sort of rude comment, Mai stepped in almost bumping against him. With a bright smile she reached over and took Koji's outstretched hand and shook it.

"Mr. Cabuto, nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you. I have read several of your articles and I am very interested in them. My name is Mai. I am the daughter of Dr. Kazuki." Koji looked towards Takeru who was frowning at Mai. The auburn-haired woman looked at him and said, "Are you going to keep on being rude or are you going to shake his hand?"

Takeru gave her a nasty look but strangely he did what he was told. As he was shaking Koji's hand, Mai told Koji. "Don't mind him. We have not decided if he is shy…or just antisocial." She said with a smile, which earned her a nastier look from the brown-haired man standing next to her.

Koji just looked at the two of them with a knowing smile. This pair reminded him a bit of his relationship with his co-pilot Sayaka. Complicated, complex and confusing as hell, they danced around each other, neither of them letting the other know what they really thought about each other.

On the other side of the room, Sayaka Yumi narrowed her big brown eyes as she watched the trio. She had been avidly watching out for Koji while she pretended to listen to her dad's conversation. While in other cases she would have been ecstatic to meet two old colleagues of her father's and listen to what they had to say, she was too worried looking at Koji's interactions with the floozy that was chatting him up to really pay any attention. Neither as tall nor willowy as she was, the girl who kept making cow eyes at her Koji was much curvier that she was. Although Sayaka was proud of her body, she was a bit touchy about the fact that she did not have curvy womanly hips. In fact, if it were not for her breasts, she would look like a pretty boy. To see somebody else with the assets she lacked, getting so close to Koji raised her hackles quite a bit.

Without thinking twice about it and taking her cue from Dr. Lang's question about Koji's father, she suggested introducing Koji to them. Dr. Lang, who seemed more interested in scientific conversations than human emotions, did not see anything amiss with that and followed her, while her dad gave her a quick look but remained silent. That was how the trio found themselves by the three youngsters. Sayaka hastened to introduce her recent acquaintance to the young man in order to distract him.

"Very honored to meet you Mr. Kabuto." Dr. Lang enthused. "I was very sorry to hear about your father's and grandfather's passings. Such great scientists! They are missed by the entire community. Although from what I have heard, you are already following in their footsteps. Studied in NASA, written a couple of papers… yes, yes very good."

Koji's smile was a bit strained under the attention from the strange pupil-less' eyes. In order to detract his attention, he asked, "Did you meet my dad and grandfather?"

"Just briefly, as he I was only Mr. Kazuki's assistant. By the time I would have had more interaction with his group, he had already left the SDF-1 research site."

While they had been talking, Sayaka had sidled towards Koji and was looking at the other woman trying to convey a silent message which would be understood by any woman. The ginger-haired woman narrowed her eyes in anger or in puzzlement, Sayaka didn't care, just as long as the other could see her close to Koji.

Mai could see the sullen look the other woman shot her and was completely puzzled as to what had caused it. As fascinating as it was to listen to two eminencies of the scientific world talking, she was feeling decidedly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the other woman. She decided that it might be better to excuse herself and find her father. She might as well drag Takeru with her, after all she could tell that Takeru had tuned them out a long time ago. She took a little step out of their circle, the unspoken signal between them to get a move on.

Koji apparently saw the small movement and before Takeru could react, the flustered man latched on to their presence.

"How rude of me. Let me introduce you all. Dr. Lang, Dr. Yumi these are Mai Kazuki and Takeru Hoyo from the Divine Liberty. I believe you might know Mai's father Dr. Kazuki? His work and seminars have been widely exposed in the community."

"I do know your father Ms. Kazuki. Is he here with us?" Dr. Yumi said as he shook her hand warmly. "I will be very happy to renew our acquaintance."

Mai smiled warmly at the older man. He was very soft-spoken and kind-looking. "Yes he is sir. I believe he was specifically requested to join in at least for the time being, same as you all were."

"Too right, we needed as many members from the initial Macross project." Dr. Lang interjected.

The younger generation looked at the man puzzled while Dr. Yumi and Dr. Lang shared a significant glance amongst them. Takeru looked at them with a distrustful expression while Koji took silent note but decided to ignore it for the moment.

"Takeru and Mai this is Sayaka, Dr. Yumi's daughter and the pilot of Venus A, one of the robots that will be helping you." Koji continued with the introductions.

"You pilot the robot alone?" Mai asked excitedly and Sayaka gave a small nod. "That's great. Both Takeru and I pilot our own robots, The Plizer and the Mighty but then we both pilot the Gakeen."

Sayaka and Koji looked puzzled by this but Dr. Lang was positively ecstatic as he exclaimed. "Yes, you merge together into the Star-Cross right? I am looking forward to seeing this process in person. It is most fantastic how two beings can become one. Positively ingenious!"

Takeru and Mai looked embarrassed by the man's words. After all, put that way, the Star-Cross process seemed to allude to something else… Mai and Takeru avoided each other's eyes as they turned quite red. Dr. Yumi gave a little cough to break the rather awkward silence that had befallen the group.

"Yes, well, I have also heard about the Mazinger. I look forward seeing it in action. My father says it is quite a powerful robot." Mai said, turning the attention away from the awkward moment.

"Unfortunately I will probably not use it." Koji said and Mai's face fell at this. Sayaka had to suppress a smirk, even if the reasons why Koji would not be joining the fight were quite dire. "I will bring the Mazinger but I specifically requested to join the scientific team. I want to follow my father and grandfather's footsteps and an opportunity like this is too good to pass up. I will be able to gain an apprenticeship after this." The man answered in honesty but did not give the full account as to why he would not consider taking the powerful robot into the action against their enemy.

Mai seemed disappointed at this but she brightened considerably when she spied her father walking their way, a small gnomish man at his side. As the newcomers reached them, Takeru started to drift away from them. He didn't belong with that group of people. He had nothing to talk to them about and was not interested in listening to their talk.

With barely an acknowledgement, he stepped away from the group. Looking around, he gazed curiously at the various boxes of spare parts, armaments and various supplies that were being moved about. He noticed a black-haired man about his own age giving orders and writing notes on a clipboard.

Apparently the messy haired man was some sort of high ranking officer as they all scrambled to do his bidding. But if Takeru believed that all was well with this arrangement, he realized his error when two of the men passed him and without noticing or acknowledging him, started to complain about the orders.

Takeru shot a look at the young man who had not noticed anything out of the ordinary because he was busy sorting out a problem that had sprung up somewhere else. Curious about what they thought about the man, Takeru stealthily approached another group that seemed to be diligently working but not accomplishing much.

"These people!" One of them spat with anger. "They come here and think they can do everything better."

"Who says they know where the best place to store everything is?" The other agreed. "We have been here longer than them."

"We don't need their help anyway. We've got Gordian, Daigo has been more than enough to protect us all this time." Another grunted and they all made sounds of agreement.

Satisfied with what he had heard, Takeru silently moved away. A wicked smile blossomed in his face as he looked around the hangar and he wondered if the leaders of this little charade thought that everything was working out perfectly. So much for their valued team work!

* * *

These insubordinates! Rick thought with a scowl. For the umpteenth time he wondered how Lisa could make it with double the amount of men to order. No wonder she was always in a pissy mood!

"It's not as easy as she makes it look, now is it little brother?" As if reading his mind, Roy asked him, knowing full well the answer to that question. Not so much because of his own experience but because of the dark look Rick wore.

Rick muttered darkly but did not give him an answer.

"So where is our fearless leader now? I thought she was supposed to be greeting our allies, being an ambassador of goodwill and all that rot."

"She was waylaid by the Admiral as soon as she came in. More paperwork I guess."

"I see… and how did you end up with this rather marvelous and glorious job?"

"Gloval."

"Can't leave you alone for a moment, can I? I would have thought only Lisa would be mean enough to make you do it but I guess the old lady ain't talking to you still."

Rick gave him a sidelong glance and decided to ignore the barb. "If she hears you calling her old…"

"She is not here to hear me and I know how to handle her." Rick snorted in amusement at that, knowing it was all a bluff. The only people that could handle Lisa Hayes in a full snit were the Admiral and Claudia, nobody else. "Besides that" Roy continued, "you were the one who came up with that little nickname for her."

"First of all, it was Minmay who called her old lady. I called her old sourpuss. Aside from that it was ages ago and I will ask you to please not bring it up again as I like my skin attached to my body. I am not looking forward to being flayed alive by that tongue of hers."

"Not when it can do other things for you." Roy muttered too low for the other man to hear over the racket.

"What?" Rick asked and he thought he heard Roy say something about virgins or close to.

"Nothing." Roy said with a big false grin while Rick narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Lisa does have quite a temper on her… she's a fiery one." Roy said with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. "Talking about her temper… don't tell me you have not realized she has been avoiding you like the plague. Ever since your little spat the other day, she has not said two words to you."

"We've all been busy."

"Come one little bro, you really can't be that dense! She's still pissed off at you and you know it."

"Don't you have something better to do or did you just come over here to bug me?"

"I was actually looking for you, you little ingrate, but seeing that you are in such a disagreeable mood I might as well take myself elsewhere." Roy said with a haughty voice.

"Don't give me that bull. You just realized that Claudia was assigned on the welcoming duties that Lisa was supposed to be doing." Rick said with a knowing look.

Roy put on a look of mock surprise. "I had not realized but now that you mention it…"

"Is there something on your mind Roy?" Rick asked as he could tell his big brother's mind was not so much on his fiancé as it was on something else.

"Did you say the old man put you up to this?" Rick nodded. "Wonder what he has up his sleeve."

"What do you mean?" Rick asked suspiciously. He hated to be the last one knowing things. He especially hated when he found out he had been manipulated in any way.

"Can't you tell? They still have not said who will be the leader of this little shin-ding. So… I don't know… putting you up to a couple of things like this… He might have a plan for you."

Before Rick could explode (talk about fiery tempers) Roy hastened to explain. "Hey it might not mean anything. Besides it is a good thing. I know the old man thinks highly of you."

Slightly mollified, Rick backed down.

"I thought we were here to give them a hand."

"No…" Roy said, a speculative look on his face. "Look around you. Look at what they are having us do. I think they want us to lead them. To be the glue that holds everything together. Have you noticed how disorganized they all are?"

"Well you don't have to tell me twice." Rick said bitterly as he eyed a group of men who were supposed to be taking down some cargo from the newly arrived allies' ships and were doing everything but. "Listen, I think I have to take care of this one." He said as he hastened to them.

Roy looked at the dark haired man as he reached the men and patiently but forcefully got them to work. With a sense of swelling pride, he had to admit that Rick was all grown up and doing quite a good job. He was sure that Henry and Lisa had noticed and were gently but steadily grooming him for bigger and better things.

If he could just get his love life adjusted and finally see the light about a certain fiery captain, Roy was sure that Rick would be a very happy man.

* * *

The leaders of the opposition were not always in agreement but at this moment they all felt the same: Impatient. They were all impatient with the fact that their workers were not taking their tasks with the importance they were supposed to. Close to a week and no progress still. 

"Have you discovered anything?" Dolza, the unspoken leader, questioned his most loyal (for lack of better followers) leader.

"No milord." Khyron said with mock reverence. He, after all, was not stupid and he did not want to get punished for his news. "We have not been able to find the material. Maybe there was a mistake, after all who would think the Masters…"

"There was no mistake! Our own people tracked it…" One of the generals of the Madokters tried to interject.

"Silence!" Dolza said to the man. Turning to the smirking Zentraedi, he said, " Khyron I am not asking you to think. Your orders were to lead the men in finding this material in the sub-soil of this town. Can you tell me that the micronians are cleverer than the Zentraedi?"

"No milord." The purple haired Zentraedi responded sounding chastened.

"Go and do not come back until you have better news. You will not rest until that material is found." Dolza said and Khyron's fist clenched. "Go." With a nod that was barely subservient, the proud and irascible Zentraedi left.

"Was it wise to order him to be there all the time? I do know that Zentraedi's bodies get tired same as ours… He will not do a good job if his head is less clear than usual."

"You do not know Khyron. He has too many sycophants and cowed servants to actually do any work but he will ultimately take all the glory and in order to do that, he will have to assume responsibility for the failures which are not his own."

The leader of the Izzari looked irritated as he asked the Commander, "I thought your men would be more effective in finding this material you all claim to be so important. After all, haven't they done this before?"

"It is important and you will see its power soon enough. As far as your concern… The Zentraedi were miners a long time ago, before the humans even stopped crawling over this planet. But it has been too long and it will take them awhile to get their programming back. After all it was changed by our Masters."

"I see. I do hope for the sake of this alliance that the matter is found immediately and we can start with the rest of our process soon. The humans have no idea and even less of a chance but we cannot give them any chances."

"I agree." Dolza said and in that moment he keenly felt the loss of his best warrior, Lord Breetai. Khyron was certainly not the best man for this task. He had the manpower and the ruthlessness to get the job done but he came from a different generation, one that had been bred exclusively for war and some of the earlier programming had been suppressed in order to favor the new need of the Masters.

Breetai on the other hand had been one of the first and one of the best. Even now that he had turned traitor he could still admire the old warrior and the worker. Breetai would have already gotten results. There were not many left of that generation and Dolza wished, in what could be described as a fit of nostalgia, that Breetai were still his man. Or at least that he had somebody as competent. He thought that even that Meltrandi woman Kazziana Hesh would have been a better alternative than Khyron at this point but nobody knew where the woman was.

* * *

Lisa sat in the chilly office where she had been ensconced after Henry decided she would do better coming with him and leaving Claudia to greet the allies. As much as she knew that was her duty and that she still had to meet with them, she was still grateful as she detested meeting new people and wondering what they thought, or how she should behave with them… She sighed despondently. She envied the easy way that Claudia and Roy could talk to people. Even Rick, who was not as chatty as Roy or Claudia, was still charismatic enough and accustomed to crowds enough to be comfortable with strangers. She imagined it must come from those days when he was in the flying circus… 

There she went again, thinking about HIM, Lisa though with a pained grimace. She had to admit that her preoccupation with Rick was like an obsession, how he cropped up in her mind tied to any little thought. The cramping of her fingers on the tabletop brought her back from her thoughts and she realized that she was working herself up into a state again. If she did not take care ,she would develop a problem with her blood pressure and after avoiding it for all these years she was damned if she was going to allow Rick to get to her in this way. The promise she had made to herself that very morning was all but taunting her. She had to remind herself that love was not something that could be turned on or off like a switch and that same as it had taken time for her love for the black-haired pilot to develop, it would also take time for it to go away.

Seeking a diversion from her morose thoughts, Lisa concentrated on the pile of folders that seemed to be her constant companion for the past week. For days she had sat and studied report after report to familiarize herself with their allies' mecha and that of their enemy. More than that, she was getting familiar with the conflict with the different aliens. Lisa felt the answer was at the tips of her fingers, elusive but tantalizing enough to drive her insane. She was grateful though, this was distracting enough. After all it would not be the first time that Lisa would use work to bury her own heart.

Two hours later she was ready to get up and get some lunch when Henry came to her. Giving him a wearied smile, she waited to see what was on his mind.

"We need to announce to the whole force that there will be a meeting tomorrow as soon as the last of our allies arrive."

"Are they finally getting here?"

"They had logistical problems with the protection of their princess which is the reason why they are not here yet. They did send Kogo ahead though to help us with the fight."

"So that was him?" Lisa asked, remembering the pilot that remained long enough to help Daigo but did not even talk to any of them, let alone help the injured man back to the base. "Well that bodes well, great team player." She said sarcastically.

Henry decided to let that one pass. He knew, as well as Lisa did, that a performance like that did not mean anything. Kogo was still not under their command, at least not technically, and not having a compassionate nature did not mean that while in battle he might not help his comrades.

"Since they will be here in the early hours we are planning to have a meeting at 1400 hours to ensure that everybody understands what we are facing. We hope to gain more insight from having an open forum. Aside from that we will distribute the responsibility to the various areas; we need to start to integrate them and have them train together. "

Lisa nodded, agreeing with the idea. "I would also like to meet with the current leading figures. I don't want them to feel undermined by our decision. I hope to make them understand before it is announced in the meeting."

"Great idea, it is better to have their leaders agreeing with us to represent a united front." Henry mused, understanding Lisa's reasoning. "When do you plan to meet with them?"

"Right after dinner tonight. There are still a lot of things I need to go over and I want to familiarize myself with the names of the allies that came in today so I do not make any mistakes." Lisa admitted ruefully.

"I'm sure it will be fine." Henry paused and asked. "Will you have a problem with the assigned duties for Captain Hunter?"

"No, I agreed from the start he will be good for that. I do not foresee any problems with him."

"Lisa… you know what I mean."

"Begging your pardon sir, but when have I ever let my feelings interfere with my professional duties?"

"I am sorry Lisa, you are right. There's nothing to be worried about." He said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Now how about making that announcement to the group? They all can be found in the mess hall at this time so it will be easier to talk to all of them."

"Yes sir." And with a salute, she left.

Lisa started to compose her announcement in her head as she stepped out of the office and into the corridor. After a couple of steps she stopped cold as she suddenly realized she had no idea where the mess hall was. She'd had no time for an official tour and she'd eaten all of her meals in the offices with Admiral Gloval and Commander Barry. With a sigh she turned around to ask Barry to escort her there when she almost collided with somebody that was standing right behind her.

Lisa squeaked quite undignified while she backed up from the grinning man. She'd had no idea the man was there and he seemed to have come out of nowhere and that was what had freaked her out.

The man stuck out his hand and introduced himself. "Hello Captain Lady, my name is Ryoma. I am the spy of the group as I can move around silently. I hope I did not startle you."

'So that explains it', Lisa thought as she shook his hand. "Yes, I have seen you around Mr." she paused waiting for his last name but seeing that it was not forthcoming she continued, "Ryoma, but I did not have the pleasure of making your acquaintance."

'Oh, she's a classy one.' Ryoma thought as he grinned at her dreamily. Lisa's polite smile was starting to fray around the edges as she stood there in silence.

"Well, I have to go and make an announcement to the group in the Mess Hall, so if you will excuse me…" she trailed off and he nodded happily to her. Lisa sidestepped him, since it didn't seem he was going to move from where he was and was about to walk back to the office when the man said.

"That's not the way to the Mess Hall."

"I was going to ask for directions." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to kick herself, especially when she saw the man's black eyes light up.

"If you want I can escort you there Captain Lady." He said with a deep bow.

Lisa debated the matter for a couple of seconds and then she steeled herself for the trip there. After all, she had faced Zentraedi… how bad could it actually be?

* * *

When Lisa was done with her announcement, she left the Mess Hall, deciding to eat in a quieter place.

As soon as the Captain stepped out of the room, the whole assembly erupted with outraged cries.

"Who died and made her queen?" One of the most vociferous and their unspoken leader exclaimed.

"Yeah, who does she think she is?" Another echoed.

Peachy who was at a table next to Daigo, Ryoma, who had sat down for the announcement, and other close friends, stood up and confronted them. "She happens to be one of the captains of the allied forces. She even has a higher rank than Barry so you should show some respect!" The diminutive woman said forcefully. A couple of the men and women of the squadron backed away at the force of her rightful fury. They knew well of her temper and they had learned to respect it. Aside from that, she was still one of the squadron commanders and she was respected among the enlisted. Unfortunately most of those who disagreed with Captain Hayes were the volunteer forces who also resented the involvement of the Mechakon soldiers.

"You broads all stick with each other." The same man said disrespectfully.

Daigo and the rest of Peachys' friends resented the disparaging remark and scowled forcefully at them. Daigo stood up and placed himself behind the woman, leaning against a wall, his presence almost invisible. He was not going to interfere in the discussion but he was not going to let them get away with insulting the curly haired woman or threatening her.

"It is not about being a woman or not. This is about giving respect to your superiors." She responded. Peachy was sick and tired of trying to pacify the other facet of their forces. She was aware of how the tension between the two groups was reaching a fever pitch but she was damned if she was going to allow her comrades to fall because of their pettiness.

"She ain't my superior." One of the volunteers shouted.

"Yeah, Barry is our superior and we respond to him." One of the men from Mechakon agreed. "We don't want everybody else who is now here ordering us around, working us to the bone. Fetch this, fetch that…" Apparently the men had not realized that most of the "foreigners" were in the room tucked into a corner, observing the development.

"It's all a matter of cooperation…"

"Cooperation?" The guy scoffed. "I'll tell you what to do with that…" He said as he approached the petite woman in a threatening manner.

Daigo stepped away from the wall he was leaning against with the suddenness of a snake about to strike. His voice though was languid as he said, "Watch it Bruce."

"What are you going to do about it Otaki?"

"Do you really want to find out?" The younger man smirked as he cracked his knuckles comically. He did not find the man a threat and he was showing it.

"Is there a problem here?" The resounding tenor of Barry's voice broke what poised to be quite the fight.

"No sir, nothing's the problem sir…" The men answered.

"Daigo, Peachy… ?" Barry asked seeking confirmation.

"Nothing we couldn't handle sir." Daigo hastened to say before Peachy answered. He gave her a covert look and she lowered her eyes. "They were getting a little personal about my sister but I put them on their place. Told them they if they kept it up I would let you handle it." He said a warning to the rest of the group with his words.

Barry was not fooled for a second but he knew better than to call Daigo on his blatant lie. He was giving the men a second chance and he was not going to push it unless it became a problem. He knew that if it was serious enough Peachy would come in and tell him. Giving the room a narrow eyed look, he took in the occupant's faces. Barry noticed the chastened, yet still defiant look the men were giving Daigo while he gave them a challenging look. The Macross people seemed rather upset at something and two of them seemed to be restrained by the others. The rest of the allies were trying to blend into the background as they had no side to take and were too new to have gotten in a conflict.

"Carry on." The commander said as he left the room.

As soon as Barry had left, Daigo stepped forward and said. "By the way if I do hear somebody starting any rumors about my sister you will have to face me, not Barry." And with that he sat down to eat. Peachy knew when to retreat so with a last look, she sat down next to him.

The men sat down and only a couple of them ever realized that the people they had so vehemently been against were also in the room.

* * *

Rick's blood was boiling. If it was not for the fact that Roy was holding onto him, he would have confronted the volunteer forces and put them on their place. Next to Rick, Vince Grant was also being held back, in his case by Max who had laid a gentle hand on his arm to calm him.

It was obvious for anybody to see that Rick was much angrier than Vince, in fact angrier than anybody at the whole table. He was positively outraged. Still feeling Roy's restraining hand, Rick turned to Roy and asked him why he was being held back.

"I don't want you to get in trouble because of brawling. Aside from that we are outnumbered." The blond man answered matter-of-factly.

"But you heard what they said about Lisa!"

"Nothing that I have not heard before and nothing you have not heard before either. In fact some of the people that are here with us have said something similar in the past."

"How can you just sit there…"

"Hey, I don't like it but I know we can't afford to get into a fist fight. You want to explain to Gloval how this whole mission collapsed because you started a fight?"

Rick gulped and settled down. Seeing it that way it might not be such a great idea.

"Do you believe for a second that if you start the fight the rest of the guys will not jump in? Especially in light of the fact that they are waiting for an excuse to do so in the first place."

Rick shot a quick look behind him to the other tables and he realized that the rest of the SDF crew were poised as if waiting for an unspoken command to also jump to it. He looked back to Roy and his raised eyebrow and he slumped down lower on his seat.

The newcomers watched warily the interaction and tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible. They did not understand what was happening and did not want to garner the attention of the pacified mob. The only one that understood was Takeru and he smirked all throughout the meal.

* * *

Lisa was not made aware of the whole episode of the Mess Hall. They all thought she would be too hurt by the comments and the sentiment behind them. Claudia and Rick were of the idea that she should at least know of their hostility before something could happen and Claudia was volunteered into the task as Lisa was still giving Rick the silent treatment. (Sniggers from all and a glare from Rick at this comment). Claudia decided that she would wait until the after dinner meeting was done so that Lisa would not be self-conscious during it.

The room where they would be meeting was the smallish office Lisa had been using all this time to do her research. Being past dinner time, the artificial lights had gone up automatically but Lisa had dimmed them a bit to create a cozier atmosphere. Those who came from Macross instantly recognized the setup as the one she used in her own office. In fact, Roy knew that one of the reasons why Lisa liked the lights dimmed was because of her being prone to headaches.

The group was small and consisted of Rick, Roy, Vince, Max and Miriya from the Macross forces. From the other allies, the only ones present were Daigo, Peachy, Sayaka, Takeru and Mai. Koji would not be joining them as he was actually assigned to the scientific group and not the fighters. Lisa had arranged the chairs into a loose semi-circle in front of her desk. Her chair was not behind the desk but it was rather in front of the desk, facing the semi-circle. Close to them but still slightly apart.

They had all arrived pretty much at the same time and had been invited to sit promptly by the uniformed Captain. Lisa had decided to don her familiar uniform for this conversation, the starched fabric as much a comfort as a protective armor. After a brief introduction so that everybody could know each other, without it degenerating into a fellowship meeting, Lisa addressed the small group.

"I have invited you all here to talk a bit before tomorrow's meeting. Tomorrow we shall meet as a group in order to exchange information that will hopefully serve to clarify the motives behind our enemy's actions. Today though, I wanted to talk about something that will come up tomorrow. Seeing that the forces will have expanded and that we still have to cover our places of origin, there will be a reorganization and a change of duties. All of you will be leaders on your own accord in different divisions that will play to your strengths and familiar duties." She said, her green eyes looking at all of them and stopping briefly on Rick's face before moving on. "Now aside from the fact that you will be called to lead, you will need to be an example of cooperation for the rest of the crew. The fact that you will need to work together and also respond to orders will become an example for the crew and will foster this type of attitude. We have already started to work together and in fact have fought together, but next time there will be others leading them so we need to make sure that the process is smooth. That is why I am asking you to cooperate with each other and with me from now on in order to gain this."

Lisa spoke with a gentle but stern voice with the assurance of one who had been a First officer for years and had a lot of experience with working with diverse groups. But that had all been in Macross, in her base, where she had been known for years as a great soldier and had a reputation that preceded her. Unfortunately for her, she was not in Macross and she was promptly shown that.

Takeru, who had been listlessly listening to the little heartening speech, realized that the bossy lady who was talking to them had no idea of what was happening around her. He had no clear idea of who she was and what her job was but he sure as heck was going to enlighten her to the state of things.

"Lady, I think you have to walk down from your ivory tower or in this case your little office for a bit and see what is really happening out there." Takeru interjected and all of them turned to watch him in shock. "You talk about cooperation and getting everybody to work together and nobody in this place wants that. I've only been here one day and I have heard tons of complaints about your presence here. In fact, just this afternoon they were all complaining about you specifically. Ask them," He said, pointing to Rick, Roy, Max and Miriya, who seemed to be petrified in their seats, "if you doubt me but we all saw how little they want us here and how they don't want you as their leader." Wounded green eyes shot to her friends, who could not meet her gaze. "Something about your high- handedness and how they don't need any help from any of us at all. If it were me, I would just leave all of them to fend off by themselves."

"That's enough Takeru!" Mai said and that seemed to snap everybody form the unreal feeling they had been wrapped in.

Lisa had not taken her eyes of her friends, her comrades, her family, during the whole tirade. The fact that none of them had tried to meet her gaze proved that it was all true. Then Rick of all people was looking at her, his blue eyes trying to convey an apology that seemed sincere. It was that familiar gaze, that familiar expression in their never-ending circle of hurt and comfort, which made her steel her spine and continue on. She stood up and walked a few paces behind towards her desk, her fingers skimming the files that had become her puzzle and her purpose. Without raising her eyes from the abstract pattern she was drawing on the manila surface, she spoke, her voice as steady as before.

"Be as it may Mr. Hoyo the reality is that we need to defeat our common enemy one way or the other, even if it does involve that we pretend to be what we are not. Now more than ever I believe I will have to ask of all of you to show to the rest that we are in agreement, even if I might have to make it an order." She said, and at that moment her green eyes speared him, her attitude demanding and challenging.

Takeru understood the message and he nodded his assent. He realized this woman was not going to break easily nor was she going to back down. A tiny spark of respect for her kindled within him but he did not let it show. It would take more than that to see what she was made of. Aside from that he was still not interested in this fight much more than he had been in his previous one. He had owed a debt to Mai's father but he did not owe any to this woman. Still he looked to the side, refusing to meet her eyes anymore.

"Now, you are all dismissed until further notice. Tomorrow we shall all meet and I want you all to remember my request. At that time you shall all be given your official tasks. Goodnight to you all." She said in dismissal as she lowered her gaze to the files on her desk again.

The first one to go was Takeru, closely followed by Mai. Sayaka also left as she felt rather awkward about the whole situation. Daigo, for once, did not play any insolent games and just left. Peachy seemed to want to say something but she hesitated before she left. Only the Macross people remained. Roy made an effort to approach her but Lisa put her hand up and softly asked to be left alone. Roy looked torn but left, a determined expression on his face. No surprise to where he was heading, or better yet, who he would look for. Max and Miriya looked at each other and with the sort of communication developed by married couples, they decided to leave her be.

As he too left the room, Rick looked back one more time. Lisa had now gathered the thick files to her chest as if they could become an shield to protect her. Or maybe by gathering them close, she was trying to remind herself of what she was supposed to do. For the first time, he saw her for what she was, a woman, alone, who seemed to be carrying these burdens by herself and the weight of them seemed to break her, to make those proud shoulders bow down in defeat. Rick hesitated a minute, torn between going to her and leaving her to deal with it on her own. At last, he took the coward's way out and left, unsure of what her reaction would be if he gave in to the insane impulse he had to hold her tight and promise that everything would be alright.

Hours later, Rick was still sitting on his bed, unable to sleep. His mind kept replaying the scene. He wanted to kick himself for not telling Lisa beforehand or at least insisting that Claudia did. Then that way Lisa would not have been embarrassed and worst of all, that wounded, betrayed expression would not have appeared on her face. His heart had given a painful squeeze when he saw that and in that moment he had felt the urge to apologize to her, to hold her and tell her that everything would be alright, to shelter her from their painful words…

And lastly, Rick remembered the sadness and determination in those green eyes. The image was hauntingly familiar and he realized how many times Lisa had had to handle things by herself. With this realization he vowed to help the prickly woman whether she wanted it or not.

* * *

_A/N: Ok people ,I cannot tell if I am going in the right direction or leaving you all lost if I do not get any feedback. So please, feed the muse and drop by with a comment._

_Maybe you guys can help me if you answer these questions_

_-Please let me know if you are getting the whole plot idea._

_-Are you feeling the other characters? Are they too many? There are still 2 more coming up in the next chapters._

_-Is the tension between Rick and Lisa palpable?_

_-What did you guys think of the battle scene? I need to write more and I need to know if you guys could feel the action._

_-Last thing is a bit of a poll. Would you guys mind if a "borrow/steal" some of the scenes from the series themselves and twist them around a bit? I will not go completely verbatim but I will use some of the situation. I will tell you guys when I do so I do not get praised with something I did not create. I have more than enough ideas for this story but there are some scenes that are HILARIOUS so I would not mind using them._

_There is a LOT, A LOT more to this story. I have only shown you guys the tip of the iceberg. There will be a lot of humor, love, angst and hopefully some action on this story. There will be a lot of misunderstandings and a lot of UST. So please stick around and don't get discouraged by my updating time because I will finish this and I have some of the major scenes already written down and the others planned._


	7. The First Defeat

_A/N: Sorry guys I know it has been a long time since I have updated this story. Aside from the really important event that I had to plan (I just got married last March) I had a couple of other projects to work on (my wedding album which I am creating myself) and new classes I had to prep for. All this put a stop to many of my more creative hobbies (I have not written anything or drawn anything since last December). This chapter was written on a mini-vacation I took with my husband in July and it has taken me this long to finally sit down and type it all up._

_I am glad to say it is one of my longest chapters as of yet so I hope you enjoy it. Things are starting to shape up for the story itself and I am getting closer to the juiciest scenes in the story :D I wanted to point out that the chapter takes place in 2 different time frames. It starts 2 weeks after the ending of Chapter 6 and it goes back to the morning after. I tried to make it as clear as possible but please let me know if it worked out._

_Thanks very much for my wonderful beta Dwparsnip for his great help in making sure this all makes sense. I swear D. I will try harder with those "on" & "in"! _

_Again, sorry for those who are waiting for an update on Spacefold, especially Sphersian who has asked me about it. I swear it is not abandoned and I have started typing some of it but the next chapter is not completed yet… hopefully soon._

_Without further ado…_

* * *

Chapter 7 – The First Defeat

"Disengage!" Lisa ordered. "Everybody return to base."

"What?" Daigo exclaimed in surprise. "We are not cowards. I will not return."

"I order you to disengage right now." Lisa said more forcefully.

"Roger that base, we are turning around." Rick's voice was the first one to come thru the comm. channels. After that, Max, Miriya and Roy echoed the acknowledgement and followed the command. Vince's unit turned around, marching straight thru Mechakon's formation.

Lisa could hear Barry echoing the order to his own troops. Her eyes stayed glued to the monitors where she could see Daigo struggling to keep fighting. Under the gigantic robot's legs, men from the volunteer forces were still fighting, ignoring Barry's orders of retreat. She turned her attention from them, confident in their ability to follow Barry's orders if not hers.

Looking at the other monitors, she could see Kogo fighting solo, a man obviously accustomed to doing things his own way. Anger at his disregard for her orders bubbled briefly but she tamped down quickly, and she reflected that he would come back when there was nobody else to fight with. Looking toward Mai and Takeru, the couple in the fighter robots which were still on the battlefield, it was obvious to see that the only reason why Mai stayed was to guard Takeru's back. Lisa thought that while he stayed there, Mai would not leave. Since they were also stopping the advance of the enemy and aiding the retreat of their troops, she let them be.

When Lisa turned to the last of the attack groups, she realized that all was not well with the female-looking robot piloted by Sayaka. She had been, apparently, in the process of following her orders but the creature robot that she had been fighting seemed to have a different opinion. The strange looking creature was relentlessly attacking the vulnerable woman. Lisa rapidly established communication with her, cursing mentally at the inability of her troops to communicate with her unless she opened the channel herself or they were in the confines of the base.

"Sayaka, are you alright?"

"Captain, I am trying to retreat..." A scream cut off the communication and Lisa could see the cowering form of the robot as she tried to make herself a smaller target for the enemy fire.

Lisa turned her attention to the others and she realized that Daigo's robot was the closest in position to help Sayaka.

"Daigo, I need you to help Sayaka, she's caught by enemy fire."

"I am busy right now."

"This is an order! Her robot is heavily damaged. Kogo, Takeru & Mai, I need assistance for Sayaka. I also need backup to lead the volunteer forces away from enemy fire."

"Why don't you ask for your team to do it instead of having them run away?" Daigo commented bitterly.

Lisa gritted her teeth against the comment she was about to tell him when she was interrupted by Rick's face appearing on the comm. screen.

"Captain Hayes, we're still on stand-by, we could help with their escape." Rick had already reached the confines of the base and he had been following the other's progress with growing concern.

Lisa did not want to send the team out again so soon after they had reached the base. Some of them might be dangerously close to needing refueling and she had no idea how long they would be able to last if they went back. She was loath to send them back against the overwhelming odds, and yet…

"Air forces, please stand by, I might need your assistance. Damn it Daigo move right now, Sayaka will not hold much longer."

Precious minutes ticked by in which the enemy forces kept pressing on, heavily damaging the volunteer brigade. Overlaid to their panicked screams, Barry's insistent orders to return to base could be heard, creating a digital chatter that reflected the chaos of their forces.

Finally Mai left Takeru and went to help Sayaka. Her action prompted a reluctant Takeru to help carry the, by now, heavily damaged female robot off of the battlefield. Daigo, seeing himself surrounded and finally seeing the damage done to the troops, created enough of a diversion for them to escape, carrying in his big robotic hands those that were too damaged to make it out. In the meantime Kogo was still flying around, hitting as many of the enemy ships as he could but their numbers were too many.

After the brigade made their limping retreat, Daigo left, the other three robots trailing him as they struggled with the unresponsive robot. The lone Kogo stayed for a minute longer until something made him pause in mid-strike and after that hesitation he made his way back to the base.

Rick and the Macross forces stayed guarding the perimeter of Santore until the last of the fighters came back. As soon as they were all safe, he gave the order to go in. He knew there was another battle brewing and this one would be inside of the base. Rick felt an urgent need to return to the hangar. He had a promise to keep. After all, he had pledged, if only to himself, to support Lisa in situations like these.

It had all started at that disastrous meeting in which he had realized the tremendous workload Lisa was shouldering.

* * *

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

_Two weeks ago_

Rick had barely slept that night, his mind kept replaying, not the meeting itself, but the expression in Lisa's eyes. He kept seeing the slight slump in the proud shoulders which seemed to be caving under the task that had been appointed to her. After much reflection and soul searching, he decided he could not let things go as they had gone. He could not think of letting her take on that responsibility by herself, not because he didn't think that she was capable, but because he knew she would do it until it broke her.

He had already seen the vulnerability in her and he knew he would not be able to work everyday alongside her without helping her in what he knew was well beyond his abilities to do. Aside from that, some of the many responsibilities that had been tied to his job while in Macross, had been eliminated by the arrangements in Santore. His work was a bit simpler here and he had to admit he was at loss with the extra hours.

So by one o'clock that morning, he had the hazy beginnings of a plan that involved integrating himself to Lisa's good graces and helping out the stubborn woman even if the inevitable fights killed them on the process.

So the next day Rick put his plan into motion. That morning he walked into the storage area looking for his CO. In his hands he carried two cups of coffee and under his arm he had his ever present clipboard. Spying his quarry, he walked resolutely toward her.

"Good morning Admiral Gloval, Captain Hayes."

Both Lisa and Henry saluted him but he could not return the salute because his hands were full.

"Are you planning on drinking both cups Captain Hunter?" Henry's voice was bland although there was a hint of mischievous curiosity hidden under his heavy accent. He was, as everybody that had seen Rick in the mornings, very aware of Rick's affliction at this time.

"Oh, no" Rick exclaimed, his ears starting to burn in a bit of embarrassment at having to do this in front of the Admiral. "This is for you." He said as he extended the still steaming cup to a surprised Lisa.

Lisa grabbed the cup unthinkingly while she looked at Rick's face as if trying to determine the reason for the offering. Rick's expression on his very open face was the answer she needed to understand where that gesture had come from.

"Hunter, I do not need your pity." Lisa said frostily, her arm making an abortive gesture to return the coffee.

"It's not pity." Rick rushed to say. He avoided looking at the Admiral as he felt like a five year old that had been reprimanded. He kept looking at Lisa's face, thinking that he had to make sure he did not antagonize her and feeling that he had already failed in that. "I just want to talk to you about the status of the armaments and I'd much rather that you are caffeinated for it." Rick told her, adding just the right amount of defensiveness in his voice to make it believable.

Lisa gave him a suspicious look but then apparently decided to let it slide. She was not about to reject the precious caffeine that might help her after the long night she'd just gone thru. She was pleasantly surprised after taking a sip that Rick had managed to prepare it just the way she liked it.

Rick felt the tension drain from him as soon as she took the first sip and he saw the little smile she had after it. His own smile was wobbly as he took a sip of his coffee. He felt the same way than when he returned home from a skirmish.

Henry was suppressing a smile as he watched them interact. At least he was glad that he would be able to leave the whole mission in capable hands. No matter what their personal problems were, he knew they would be able to work together. Deciding they needed a few minutes to overcome the shyness that seemed to overtake them, he excused himself and walked a few paces away.

Both Captains looked bemused at being left by themselves and they covered it by drinking from their respective beverages. After the first few minutes, Rick was the first to screw up his courage and ask, "So, are you ready now to face my report?"

Lisa pulled a face and said, "Can't say I am ready, especially since I have a feeling I will not like the status of things…" She cut off at the overly exaggerated expression on Rick's face that indicated her fears were not unfounded. "Thanks Hunter now I see why you were buttering me up." She said, nodding towards the coffee.

Rick gave her an unrepentant smile and with that exchange they were back to the easy camaraderie that had allowed them to work together many times. There was just a subtle change this time that neither of them acknowledged. Rick was determined to make this work and Lisa was determined to treat him as she would Max or Roy, with friendship and nothing more.

"As much as I would _love_ to…" She stressed the word and injected a world of sarcasm in it. "I have other plans for this morning." Seeing Rick's dejected frown, she added, "it should not take me too long, and you are more than welcome to join us." She said, indicating the Admiral who was still a few paces away.

"What for?"

"The last of the allies are about to land in a couple of minutes. Admiral Gloval and I are going to meet them. After that I was planning to gather everybody's reports and try to decipher them. I am glad that you will be able to help me with yours by the way because I need to make sure I am ready for the meeting later today."

Rick knew about the meeting and in fact had been counting on it as his ace in case he needed to soften her up into allowing his help. He did a quick mental count of the allies that had already arrived and those that had been presented in the initial meeting and he came up with the final name.

"Is this Kogo, the guy that's been travelling through the galaxy?"

"Yes, he is." Lisa said, smiling warmly at him for remembering the detail. "The only good thing about him might be his ability to take orders from a woman." Lisa said bitterly. Seeing Rick's confusion, she explained further. "He is escorting Princess Aurora to the center of the galaxy. From my understanding she's the one giving all the orders."

"Oh, he's the one from _that_ group." Rick specified, remembering now the conversation that had stemmed in the meeting about that specific group's ideas of saving the galaxy with the power of a single woman.

Lisa made a humming sound to acknowledge his sentiment but she did not smile at his joke. "I have been looking at their ideas and there is more to them than what we were exposed to." At his incredulous look, she continued to explain. "I am also a bit biased as I know the person spearheading the whole expedition."

"You do? How?" Rick asked, puzzled.

"We used to be neighbors, my parents and her. She had a foster daughter who was my age. We used to play together. So as you can imagine I am biased in my opinions." She said with a small smile.

Rick seemed to digest that little tidbit of information and Lisa stayed silent, possibly remembering her childhood friend. A movement from the corner of his eye reminded him of the Admiral's continued presence.

"I thought the Admiral was leaving for Macross yesterday." Rick commented, changing the subject.

"Oh, he had his reasons for staying." She said with a mysterious smile. Rick looked at her, puzzled. "You will see."

"Admiral, Captain, the ship has already here." Rosette said as she came in.

"Thank you Rosette." Lisa responded. She looked towards Henry who gave her a subtle nod. "Will you join us?" Lisa invited him again and Rick's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to meet this woman who had been Lisa's neighbor and he wanted to find out why the Admiral was convulsively, if unconsciously, smoothing his jacket.

When they reached the hangar, they saw two small ships which had landed. Around them was a cluster of people from Santore and those who Rick assumed were from the galaxy explorers. As they reached them, they parted into two groups and Rick could finally see the newcomers clearly.

One of them, a tall willowy dark-haired woman stepped forward, clearly the leader of the group. Rick tried to determine her age. It was really hard to pinpoint because she had a sort of ageless appearance but she seemed to be anywhere between 40 to mid-fifties although he guessed it was more of the latter. Her features were smooth and elegant and she carried herself with an air of self-confidence. Next to her was a short man who had a balding head and a full beard that connected all the way back with whatever was left of his hair. They made an odd couple, with her being so tall and him barely reaching past the woman's shoulder. The last member had to be the infamous Kogo. The man had yet to take off his helmet but his dark brown eyes scrutinized them as they approached. By the intensity of his gaze, Rick could see why this guy could be considered dangerous.

"Henry! It's been years. How have you been?" Dr. Sandra Kitt greeted the Admiral warmly and Lisa turned her head slightly towards Rick and gave him a discreet smile. Rick's eyes widened a fraction and then he looked straight on to the nearest wall. He was afraid of being indiscreet and letting his mouth fall open.

"I am doing well Sandra." There was a hesitant, semi-awkward moment in which they shared a private look. Henry was the first to snap out of it and said, "You do remember Lisa Hayes, Donald and Elizabeth Hayes' daughter?"

"Lisa? Oh, Dear Lord child, it's been so long!" She said as she approached the young Captain and embraced her warmly.

"It has been a long time. I trust you have been well?" Dr. Kitt smiled and nodded. Lisa hesitated for a moment and asked, "How is…"

"My daughter is doing fine, thanks for asking." The woman cut her off. "We shall need to meet and exchange stories." She said with a meaningful glance to her and at that moment, Lisa's suspicions were confirmed. It was no coincidence that the name of the Princess who was travelling to the center of the galaxy was the same as her childhood friend.

To cover up the silent message, Lisa turned to the other member of their party. "Dr. Kitt may I present Captain Hunter of the Macross fleet?"

"Pleased to meet you ma'am." He extended his hand to shake hers. He instantly liked her; she had a no-nonsense attitude that reminded him a bit of his Captain.

"Admiral, Captains, may I introduce Dr. Dodge Rogers? He has been my partner in many investigations for many years and has been invaluable with our latest venture." The little man beamed up at them. "He was part of the initial expedition to the Visitor."

Lisa noticed Rick's puzzled expression and explained. "That's the initial name that was given to the SDF-1."

"And let me introduce you to the last member of our team, Jan Kogo." Dr. Kitt motioned to the sullen young man who had by now taken off his helmet. "Jan was escorting Princess Aurora to the center of the galaxy but this mission was too important to not require his cooperation."

Kogo did not seem to agree with that assessment but he did step forward and nod to the RDF forces.

"We are glad you all were able to join us. It is indeed a very important mission." Admiral Gloval said. "We are especially happy you will be sharing your expertise with us, not only with your knowledge of the universe," he said, nodding to Dr. Sandra, "but your knowledge of weaponry and cybertronics." He finished and Dr. Dodge puffed his chest a bit in pride.

"I'll be very glad to see some of my old colleagues as well. Last I heard Dr. Lang will be here, yes?" Dr. Dodge asked as they started to move from the hangar into the body of Santore.

"Yes he is." Admiral Gloval confirmed.

"I've not seen him since our time in the Visitor." The older man commented wistfully as he struggled to keep up with the longer strides of the others.

The older members of the little party chitchatted with each other while the younger members followed along in silence. Rick and Lisa walked together behind the Admiral and the two scientists while Kogo trailed a couple of steps behind the young captains. Walking respectfully behind, the welcoming party from Santore was waiting to lead the newcomers to their rooms.

When they finally reached the hallway that branched off between the civilian and military barracks and the military offices, the young captains saluted the group and separated from them with a promise from Lisa to meet up with Dr. Kitt later.

After moving away from the rest of the party, Lisa had a faraway look on her face and Rick wondered what memory was playing in her mind. Rick wondered what Lisa's childhood was like; up to this point he had not thought of her outside of the everyday life of work and now he was trying to imagine Lisa as a little girl. With that thought in mind, they walked in silence the rest of the way to Lisa's office.

* * *

Hours later, after going over the reports and preparing for the strategic meeting, Rick and Lisa walked into the cacophony of the room where they were meeting. Lisa's step faltered briefly as she saw the chaos of the Mechakon forces as they tried to get assembled in some sort of order. The Macross forces were already sitting down and waiting patiently although their somewhat horrified gazes were travelling across the room following the Mechakon mess.

Rick noticed Lisa's hesitation and he stopped next to her. "Tough crowd." He commented giving her an understanding smile. His efforts earned him a roll of green eyes and a delicate snort as Lisa led them to the front of the room where the rest of the presenters were waiting.

After they had met this morning, Lisa had asked Rick if he felt comfortable enough to present the armament report which he agreed to with some hesitation. He had at least been gratified to see the relief on her face when he finally accepted.

The speakers were a rather large and varied group. Exedore and Dr. Lang, who they had barely seen since they landed in Santore were there, as well as Admiral Gloval who would be leaving right after the meeting. Saori and Barry would speak for the Mechakon side and many of the other scientific eminencies were sitting in the front row, ready in case their expertise was needed.

Saori, as the knowledge behind Santore, explained the purpose of the building as a fortress to shelter the civilians that had been saved from Viktor Town. She spoke of the hundreds that had stayed behind when the Mechakon forces could not save all of them and how many were still trapped.

Commander Barry spoke to them about the Mechakon forces and a brief history of the Madokters, their enemies, that had taken Viktor Town. To this day it was still a mystery what the Madokters were searching for in Viktor Town or what their purpose was in taking over.

Admiral Gloval recounted the story of the "Visitor" with many of the scientists that had been there recounting their experiences. Lisa got a calculating look in her eyes as soon as many of the scientists mentioned the samples of the materials found in the SDF-1 that they had taken to examine.

In fact, the more the other scientists talked, the more of a clearer picture she started to get. After all, many of the major groups that were now fighting as allies had at some point been in or investigated the alien ship and its substances after it landed. And many of them had used some sort of derivation from those materials to develop the robotic guardians they used to defend the Earth. Lisa scribbled a quick note to herself to investigate the scientific aspect of the mechas they all had.

Rick talked about the weapons they had and remarked on the need to maintain some of the armaments. He talked about what he had found as deficient and as a definite lack based on what he knew of the different enemy forces and their previous encounter with them. Most of his recommendations were taken note by the scientists that created or provided updates for the robots and who would take on the challenge of updating their forces.

Finally Exedore and Admiral Gloval spoke about the Zentraedi to give a bit of a background on the giant's forces.

"The Zentraedi are a race of warriors that do not know anything about civilian life." Admiral Gloval explained. "Everything that is our civilian culture is new to them, songs for example had an almost hypnotizing effect on them. One of the things that we noticed in our interactions with them is that normal interaction between men and women were quite shocking to the point of almost paralyzing their actions. We have in fact found out that something we take for granted like a kiss between a man and a woman can actually render them incapable of battle because of their confusion."

"You mean to tell me that a kiss can actually be used as a diversionary tactic?" One of the young men asked.

"Yes, if you want to put it that way…" Admiral Gloval responded.

"Damn, why didn't we get those aliens as enemies?" Daigo grumbled loudly.

The whole room erupted with laughter.

"So it will be easy then to distract them, we just smooch a coupla women and we are done." One of the cocky soldiers from Mechakon remarked. Many of the men cheered on to the disgust of the Macross women.

"It is not as easy as that anymore. Even though we have used songs as distraction tactics before many of the Zentraedi forces are already "immune" to those effects by now. There are still Zentraedi that are new to this but there is no way to tell from the two groups."

"What I don't understand is what they are all planning to do if they are successful. Are they all going to share the Earth?" Sayaka raised her hand and asked.

"Maybe it's a matter of getting rid of a common enemy and then the alliance is off and they have to fend for themselves. It has been a common tactic of generals in the past." Mai remarked.

"No, that's not really it. After all, the Zentraedi are not interested in staying on Earth. The only reason they came here is for the SDF-1." Exedore commented.

"Well the Izzari are definitely here to stay. Their planet blew up. They need a new planet to live. They just need to make it livable for them." Mai commented.

"How about the Madokters?" Lisa asked.

"Nobody really knows. They have been here for over a millennia, from what we have been told by a POW. Their influence has been over all major wars as far back as the Egyptians." Saori commented.

Everybody paled.

"Do we still have this POW?" Lisa asked.

"Unfortunately we lost her in a battle but we kept a recording of the story. It's been transcribed and given to you in your notes." Barry told her and she remembered the DVD that was included with the notes. She had not gotten to it yet and she made a point of reviewing it as soon as possible.

"That still doesn't give us enough information on their motives." Exedore commented. They all realized that they were back to where they had started, with all of that information but no connection as of yet.

A thoughtful silence filled the room. At that moment, Admiral Gloval decided to make his last announcement.

"As many all of you are aware, Captain Lisa Hayes will be the Executive Commanding officer of this mission. I shall now announce the rest of the positions:

Captain Roy Fokker, Chief Commanding Air Force Officer.

Captain Barry Hawke, Chief Commanding Officer for the Ground Forces.

Captain Rick Hunter, Tactical Officer and Chief Commanding Officer for Special Forces."

Rick snapped to attention when he heard his name and it took all he had to act normal. Simultaneously, he noticed the little start Lisa gave and the quick look of surprise she shot Admiral Gloval which was rapidly masked as well. So, she had not known either. Rick wondered when Gloval had come up with that little diabolical idea. They all knew this post would have him working closely with Lisa so even if he had not decided to help her of his own accord, this position would have. He was glad he had made the decision anyways so she would not think he was being forced into helping her. But what did Gloval mean about Special Forces? He turned his attention to what the Admiral was saying and almost groaned out loud. Apparently that meant he would be in charge of the ragtag group of robots and other mecha that did not fit into the ground or air categories. From the looks of pity he received from his friends, they all felt the same way about his assignment.

* * *

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

_Present time (or a few hours before the chapter starts)_

"So what do you guys think of our two lovebirds, hey? Are we ready to start planning what to do with the bet money?" Roy said with a leer as he sat down at the same table as Claudia, Max, Miriya, Vince and Jean. Absent as always during the last couple of weeks were the "lovebirds" in question.

"Roy, you cannot seriously believe that Rick and Lisa are doing anything else but work!" Claudia reprimanded him. "What do you think he is doing? Romancing her?"

"What do you mean? He brings her coffee every morning and they stay "working" together till late…" he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Jean and Vince both laughed, knowing that Rick and Lisa were doing exactly what they said they were doing… everybody could see that the only thing they had was a working relationship and nothing more.

"Roy, your little brother is NOT like you." Claudia said with a stern face, even if her lips were twitching at the air of confusion on his face. "They are actually working all the time."

Roy gave a defeated sigh. "You're probably right, Rick really doesn't know how to take an opportunity like that even if it bit him in the butt."

"He's just being nice and helping her out with her duties. He was just telling me the other day all of the things they had to rearrange, most of it dealing with Lisa's duties." Max explained.

"Well since you put it that way, you might be right. Although, you know how Rick is, he has a thing for damsels in distress."

"What do you mean?" Jean asked; she was totally intrigued by this saga. It was still new enough to her to be interesting.

"He likes to help girls that are in trouble or vulnerable. Take Minmay for example. When he first saw her, she was just a regular girl but as soon as she was in trouble, boom! She was a magnet he was attracted to."

"Lisa always seems so strong. How did he even pay attention to her then?" Jean asked, trying to poke a hole on his theory.

"Sara Base." All, except for Vince who was just as clueless as his wife, told her.

"Exactly. In Sara Base he had to rescue her from the base where her fiancé died and she was pretty vulnerable." Roy explained to the newcomers to the saga. "Can't hurt it's the first time he sees her in that tight flight suit." Claudia smacked him in the arm. "What! I mean that in a nice brotherly way."

"Really." She replied, unconvinced.

"Anyways, keeping up with my story, he lost interest as soon as she went back to being her usual independent self."

"But she went back to being vulnerable again." Max pointed out. They all nodded in understanding.

"What happens when she doesn't need to depend on him anymore?" Miriya asked. She knew Lisa and she would not stay down for long.

All of them looked kind of depressed by the idea.

"It's like a vicious circle." Jean gloomily predicted.

"I hope he finally realizes what a good woman she is." Vince said. He truly admired Captain Hayes as a woman and as a commander.

"I just hope he finally makes up his mind between the two!" Roy said and they all gave him dirty looks. "Well obviously I want it to be Lisa but the indecision is driving me insane!"

"And Lisa needs to move on if that's the case." Ever practical Max pointed out.

They all nodded gloomily at the thought.

Lisa was making a similar assessment of the situation. At the beginning she had been hurt thinking that he had felt pity for her or obligated by his task but the more she worked with him the more she realized it was neither of the two.

There were moments when she wanted to push him away and refuse his help, feeling that his presence would make her vulnerable and fall again. But as time passed she realized that she really would not be able to do it all by herself and she was grateful for his ideas. There was no denying that Rick was a good leader and he was a good springboard for ideas. Slowly she started to accept his presence and his help as she would of any of her friends.

There were times though when she had to catch herself and wonder at his motives. One of those times had been just a few minutes ago.

Rick had been taking a look at the reports of her research she had prepared and had commented: "Wow, you're really amazing."

Lisa looked at him suspiciously then. If it had been anybody else, she would have taken the remark in one of two ways, that he was being sarcastic or that he was flirting with her.

At her silence, Rick looked at her and seeing the funny look on her face, he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

Lisa mentally rolled her eyes. Of course it was only a friendly comment. She could find nothing but sincerity in his eyes. Sometimes Rick could be so charmingly naïve!

Lisa gave him a smile and with a small laugh she said, "Nothing is wrong. Thank you. Do you want some tea?"

Rick looked a bit stunned for a minute, like he was having trouble following but agreed to the tea.

Lisa called for the tea and it was brought in a couple of minutes later by no other than Ryoma. Rick, who was sitting next to her, heard her quiet groan.

He was about to ask when the Japanese man went straight to her and made a fuss about her drink. He kept asking Lisa about the different choices he had brought until Rick noticed her exasperation and told him it would be fine, they could both handle it.

"I live to serve. Are you sure you want me to retire?" Ryoma asked, his eyes only on Lisa.

Lisa blushed and avoided looking at Rick. It was embarrassing enough whenever Ryoma did this, it was worse when somebody else was witnessing it and Rick of all people…

"Yes, thank you for your trouble Ryoma." She said after a while when he had not moved but stayed looking at her with cow eyes.

"You are very welcome, I merely recognize the beauty before me." And with a small bow, he left.

Lisa breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he left. Rick was looking at her puzzled. "Just ignore him he does this all the time. It's annoying but… he has not been offensive, on the contrary."

"Still if it makes you uncomfortable…" he told her, although he was looking at her with a strange look on his face, as if he was just seeing her for the first time.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, no, sorry." He stammered and pretended to go back to the reports. But even if his eyes were looking at them, his thoughts were on what he had seen.

Lisa was attractive after all. He had mentioned that to her in the past too. He didn't know why she would be embarrassed at seeing somebody tell her so. Even he had been distracted when he'd seen her in the fatigues.

"Here you go." She said, putting the tea cup in his line of vision.

Rick murmured his thanks and watched her sit down, pulling a folder towards her. She gracefully managed to balance both tasks and in that instant Rick wondered if Lisa had any romantic interests. He had never seen her with anybody. It was a real pity; after all, it would be sad if she was lonely. He knew better than to ask her though, he knew how broken up she was about her fiancé and he really did not want to stir any sad memories.

And with that, Rick put the whole episode behind him. He did not have a lot of time to think about it after when all hell broke loose.

* * *

"Khyron! What do you think you are doing?" Commander Radar from the Izzari forces asked. He had been given the onerous task of regulating the communications port .

Khyron continued to strap himself into his mecha as he responded, "I'm showing the Micronians the might of our combined forces." The Zentraedi warrior responded, the fire of battle ignited in his wild eyes.

"You idiot! We did not want to reveal all of our power now. We want to sneak it in on them the next time they attack." The robotic alien tried to reason with the battle crazed warrior. He should have known better than to try to stop a Zentraedi warrior that had been cooped up without fighting for weeks.

"You're slow and useless. You're putting us to do useless work when I can make the Micronian army tremble in the face of our power. I will crush them."

"Khyron! Come back Khyron." The Commander screamed but Khyron just turned off communications with the base and gave the command to depart.

Rick and Lisa jumped up and moved out of the office as soon as the alarms blared. Subconsciously they were both expecting the attack. They had after all, two weeks of relative peace. They knew it would not last for too long. What neither of them imagined was the immensity to the attack headed their way.

As Lisa stood in the command post, she felt a sinking feeling as she regarded the magnitude of the forces approaching them. They were apparently trying to get back one of the little citadels closest to Santore that had been hard won by the Mechakon a few months back.

After grueling hours of battle, and seeing the sorry state of the troops, Lisa had decided to give the order to retreat.

* * *

"The cowards are retreating." Grell commented.

"Of course they cannot battle the might of the Zentraedi. Now finish off those that have remained." Khyron ordered and then proceeded to do just that.

When there were no more Micronians because they were either dead at his hands or had retreated like cowards, he returned to his own base, basking in the feeling of the battle that still raged in his veins.

* * *

When the last one had returned to base and Lisa felt secure enough in leaving the command center, she, along with Saori and Claudia hurried to the receiving platform, weaving their way between the Aid Corps which were scattered around helping the injured. Lisa did not look around but headed straight to where Barry and Daigo were locked in a confrontation. None of them noticed an angry Koji making his way from the other side.

"She gave the order to disengage and I repeated it. Why did you not follow it?" Barry's raised voice reached the three women.

"We could've held our own if our so-called support had not left us in the middle of battle!" The younger man said.

"They left because they actually followed my orders." Lisa stated and both men turned to her.

"You! What kind of help are you going to provide if you leave us stranded in the middle of a battle?"

"You would not have been stranded if you would have followed my orders." She replied calmly, disregarding his angry tone and shaking fists. "The odds were too overwhelming in their favor so of course I'm going to ask my men, _all my men, _to come back. That order included you too."

"Well I'm not a coward who turns and runs in the middle of a fight! That's just showing weakness, but I guess that's what we get when we have a woman in command." He finished blithely, causing Lisa's face to tighten in anger.

"Women should stay off of the battlefield." Came a new voice before Lisa could formulate a response. "Case in point with her." Kogo said pointing to Sayaka who was being helped by Mai. They both flashed him murderous looks, however the response did not come from them but from Rick who had by now approached the center of the discussion.

"We have excellent female pilots who are brilliant on the battlefield, an excellent example is Miriya." He said, pointing to the Zentraedi warrior. "And by the way, some of the deadliest and most ruthless pilots from the enemy were female fighters. The reason why Sayaka was injured was because she needed backup when she was retreating and there was nobody to watch her back. We're all a team and you would never do that to a team member or any of the females in your troop, now would you?" Rick said, not addressing Kogo anymore but Daigo who just shrugged.

In the lull caused by that accusation, Koji burst out of the crowd and sucker punched Daigo who went down immediately, not expecting the attack. Barry and some of the other men held him back while the angry man screamed at the shocked man.

"I heard the Captain telling you to help Sayaka! She could've been dead if it had not been for Mai. How dare you!" He struggled more against the men holding him back while Daigo just sat there, his hand touching his jaw assessing the damage of the punch.

"Stop it all of you or I will have you thrown in the brig for brawling." Lisa's calm commanding voice broke thru Koji's anger and the little scuffles that had broken out in the periphery of their circle. "Mr. Kabuto, please take Sayaka and make sure that she is okay. We will speak later." The man turned to her and even if he was not part of the military, he obeyed her without question. He knew she was giving him an out even though there would be hell to pay for a civilian interfering with the military. He hoped she would never find out he had been ready to take out Mazinger if he had not realized in time that Mai was helping Sayaka. He had a feeling the Captain would not take to that news that well.

Barry let him go and so did the others, nobody moving while he crossed over to Sayaka. He paused in front of Mai and thanked her, giving Takeru an assessing look and then taking Sayaka's arm to lead her to the triage.

"Mr. Kogo, I will not respond to your accusation as Captain Hunter has already addressed that. The only thing I will add is that no matter the gender, when we are on the battlefield we are all a team. You are to back them up no matter who they are. If you have a problem with that then you can be dismissed to your other mission." Kogo gave her an angry look and walked away seemingly to do just that.

Lisa then turned to Daigo. "Mr. Otaki, your actions today put a lot of people in danger. Regardless of my orders, you did not follow those of your other superior." She said indicating Barry. Even worse, your insubordination caused the rest of the troop to stay behind disobeying orders because you set that example."

"We needed to win this fight. Now we've lost ground because we couldn't protect it." Some of the men shared their opinion too but were quelled by Barry's stern look.

"It's true we lost ground but my priority is the security of the all the men and women under my command and if retreating is the best option, then that's what I will choose. I hope that you reflect on this as you look around and see how many of the people who followed my orders are injured versus those that stayed with you. I will leave Commander Barry to make a decision on disciplinary action against those who disobeyed the orders." Barry saluted as a grumble was heard.

Lisa turned to leave, followed by the rest of the Macross crew, when she suddenly turned and addressed all of those in the hangar. "If I hear of any fights breaking out between any member of Mechakon, Macross or anybody else, you will be removed from the mission and returned to where you came from suspended without pay. Is that understood?"

"Yes Captain!" Came the rapid reply from the Macross crew.

"Yes, Captain!" Was repeated after a hesitant pause by the rest of the force.

"You are all dismissed." Everybody lowered their salute and dispersed.

Only the group of friends from Macross stayed faithfully behind Lisa as she made her way to the space that had been designated as her office. None of them spoke, all of them knew Lisa was too raw right now to press her and they understood her silence too. It was better to speak in the privacy of her office than out here were there could be prying eyes.

By the time they entered the office, dusk had fallen and the shadows of the night were starting to creep in. The internal system, very much like the EVA system in the SDF-1, had mimicked the conditions of the outside and had created a starry night for Lisa to view out of her window. She stood there, unseeing and silent while her reflection spoke of her distress. None of them seemed to want to break the silence but Rick felt that she needed the reassurance.

"Captain…" Rick started, but at her flinch, he said, "Lisa," he continued soothingly. "You did the right thing. It was the right order to give, we were overpowered out there and I am sure that a few more minutes of that and many of them would have asked for the order to retreat."

"I know." She said softly, making them all stand straight in their surprise. They thought Lisa had been recriminating herself for her decision. "I am just concerned with the fact that they ignored not only my orders but that of the superior officer they know and left a comrade in danger."

"We should have stayed…" Rick said, feeling guilty for Sayaka but Roy interrupted him.

"No Rick, we did the right thing, not only for our men and women but for Lisa's authority. If we had not followed her command, we would have been in the same situation as their forces. Aside from that it is a learning experience. How many times have you seen a pilot disobey orders during their first skirmish? And what happens to those pilots? They either learn to take orders after they realize the danger they are in or they don't make it back. The Mechakon will learn as well. I am sure some of them understood and will think twice the next time."

"I am just worried about the ones that did not." Lisa said, her tone melancholy as she turned to face them. "Thank you all for your support."

"Don't mention it." Rick responded.

Roy saw this as an opportunity to tease his little brother and raise Lisa's spirit. "Don't worry you just go to rest now. We'll send Ricky boy with some coffee for you tomorrow." Roy said with a smirk while Rick turned red from embarrassment.

"Hey!" Rick said as Roy hurried out of the room.

"You usually bring her coffee anyways." Their bickering could be heard as they left.

Claudia gave her a hug before she followed her fiancé. Max and Miriya saluted her with a warm smile and left.

Finally, with a lighter heart amidst her worry, Lisa turned off the lights of her office and she left for the night.

* * *

While Lisa had been in her office with her friends, Kogo's ship left Santore. He had been given clearance to go if it pleased him.

"I'm not coming back. There's no way I will work with that woman." He was telling the older man in the comm. screen.

"Kogo you knucklehead! You have to stay there, those were your orders." Dr. Dodge yelled him, his red face a stark contrast to his white beard. They had been hashing over the same conversation for over ten minutes already and the man was running out of patience.

"Dr. Dodge, should you be getting excited like that in your old age? It could turn into an apoplexy and kill you." He teased the older man in his customary fashion, knowing it would distract him long enough to have him reach his destination.

"Why you insufferable..." Apparently the man figured out the plan and he told the younger man, "Don't try to distract me like you always do. You know Dr. Sandra asked you to stay here and complete you mission! You can't go back yet."

"My mission, and the one I signed up for, was to protect the Princess and that's what I'm going to do."

"Why you…wait until Dr. Sandra finds out…"

"Jan Kogo." The calm, authoritative voice that he knew well came thru. "You need to stay there and complete this mission."

"But I want to go back to the voyage to the center of the galaxy. You know how important it is!" His tone had changed to a mix between petulance and begging. There was no insolence from him when addressing her.

"This one is just as important. Turn back and stay until you have fulfilled your role in this mission." Her voice was as hard as steel.

Kogo gave her a sullen look but he knew there was no fighting with her whenever she gave him an order. With a sigh he turned back to Santore.

* * *

Daigo was standing on a ledge on the face of Santore. There were many of these rocky ledges leading out into the night air and Daigo had explored many of them in his restlessness. Right now though he gave into another way of calming his restlessness, bythrowing stones into the impossible darkness beyond Santore.

His mind was not involved in his actions, instead they kept replaying the scenes from today's battle. He could even still hear the panicked screams of those that had stayed with him to fight.

'Damn them! He never asked them to follow him.' He thought angrily. Unbidden, the words from the bossy… the Captain replayed on his head.

"_We need to present a unified front. The troops will follow us and we need to set an example…" _She had said this the night before the bigger meeting, the night when she had been told how much everybody hated her position.

You had to give it to her, the lady sure had guts. Weeks after she had been humiliated she came back and faced everybody. Even with the overwhelming evidence that the men would not follow her orders she still faced them and established her position as a leader once again.

'Why did the men follow me and not Barry? I am not a commander!' Daigo wondered. The simple answer was that the voluntary brigade liked to rebel anyways and he had given them the perfect excuse. That he felt somewhat responsible was different. He understood that as the pilot of the Gordian, their savior in so many battles, he did get some respect and he did have some responsibility to protect those who looked up to him.

He hurled the last stone with more force than all the others and, chest heaving with his exertions, just stood there, letting the breeze calm his chaotic thoughts.

TBC…


End file.
